Six Shinigami Chronicle
by hoshiww
Summary: 6 friends, 6 deaths, 1 story. Coincidentally they all die on the same day, same place. Arriving at Soul Society, they receive their zanpakutous and start their training. What will become of them? Rated T for some swearing.
1. Prologue

**Six Shinigami Chronicles: The Cracked Ones**

-.x.X.**Prologue**.X.x.-  
If a Pyromaniac Wasn't One  
-.x.X.x.-

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

By the time the police got there, it was too late. There was nothing they could have done to help.

The block that reached upwards into the night sky, which was once a successful hotel, was reduced to rubble and charred remains. Panicked shouts and screams accompanied the sirens of ambulances and fire engines as the police chief picked his way across the blackened earth. His subordinates' initial reports showed that six people had died in the inferno. No traces of flame accelerants were found, and they could only believe this was a terrible accident. This is what they believed took place.

Ri Hiyori, pyromaniac by nature, had been experimenting with matches and firecrackers. Well, until she 'expertly' set the firecrackers up and her clothes caught fire; the oil on her hands from her dinner only fuelled it as she tried to snuff it out. Panicking, she forgot the lesson that had been pounded into her head every day of her life, and the words of stop, drop and roll did nothing to help. Fourth degree burns marred her body, and her lungs were so badly damaged, the paramedics initially believed she had already been an addicted smoker.

Ri Hiyori's case was only the start of the horrors. Every other case was related to the fire spreading.

In the case of Saiko Kira, she had tried to run away from the inferno, and, panicking, had collided, head first, with a solid concrete wall. The frontal lobe of her skull had collapsed, and she had suffered irreparable brain damage. Even if she had not been burnt, she would have spent the rest of her days on life support.

The body of Akechi Shiori was found within a warped skeleton of melted plastic and steel that had previously been a large toy car. Though fourteen years old, she still held a fascination for toys and had been driving in this car when the fire erupted. In an attempt to evade the fire, she drove on the wrong side of the hotel's go-kart course and rammed into another driver, spun out and broke her neck upon colliding with the pot plant.

Tifa Yuri's case was different. She had sought refuge from the heat in the fridge, or rather, the freezer. In stark contrast with Ri Hiyori, she froze to death. Frostbite had claimed her limbs, as is often does when one goes from searing heat to sub-zero temperatures.

The flames quickly spread to the bedrooms where Wakanao Hoshika resided. Seeing the danger and the flames licking the paint from her door and with the bathroom door locked, she realised her only chance was to jump from the balcony. Of course with a drop of only three floors, she would have survived, given that she landed on her feet, but it was not to be so. Her leg hit the edge of another balcony and she was sent spinning, and her head met with the ground and killed her in an instant.

Wakanao couldn't escape into the bathroom because a certain Kanda Mochi occupied it. She was one of those rare girls who, for some unknown reason, blow-dry their hair while still in the water. Wakanao's scream startled her enough for her arm to relax and allow the hair dryer to dip into the water, sending a huge electrical current through her body. Her heart stopped, and so did Mochi's life.

The police chief shook his head and walked away, ordering the media, who came trickling one by one to the scene, to keep away from the tragic scene.

One Shinigami, perched high in a surrounding tree, looked down at six spirits fighting. Obviously they all blamed Ri Hiyori for their death. He jumped from the tree and landed before the group.

"Excuse me," he said. "I am here to take you to Soul Society."

Without another word, ignoring their shocked faces, he performed the Soul Burial swiftly and with the usual flash of blue and the souls had disappeared from the face of the Earth. With a flourish, the Shinigami disappeared in a flash of shunpo.

The six girls arrived at Soul Society. Once there, they set their goals on becoming Shinigamis.

-.x.X.**Owari**.X.x.-

* * *

**A/N**: Some things you should know:

1. This is a group fic. 6 people, including me, are contributing to this fic. Don't be alarmed if the tone changes, or something random happens. _GeNoWaFeR_, _moshimellow_, _larrmon_, _Ma chao_, and one that doesn't have a account.  
2. This is a crack fic, no matter the tone. Or anything.

Questions, Suggestions, Constructive criticism (I don't think we really need these because it's a crack fic but anyways...) and General reviews are welcome.

No flames please.

x.**TAN**gled


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's note: Hi again, hope your enjoying it… yes it's crack.**

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

_To whom it may concern,_

_This letter is to inform you that you have been accepted to Shinigami Academy.  
__School starts on 13/4. Be sure to arrive prior to 8am.  
__Equipment list is attached._

_We hope to see you soon,  
__Vice – principal_

_B. Hideyasu  
_

_Equipment list:_

_School uniform (enclosed in parcel)  
__Brushes (3 sizes, 22, 43, 67)  
__Exercise books (2x 64pg A4 0.8mm lined hole punched)_

"Hey guys! I got in!" Shioru shouted with joy, jumping up from her chair and knocking it to the floor. She looked at the others, realising they had also received letters. "Did you all get in?"

"I did," said Hoshika.

"And so did I. Sooo.. Let's look at our uniforms!!!" Saiko started ripping up the packaging. "Oh god, they're red! They're freaking ugly red!"

"OMO! They look pretty cool…" Hiyori took the one with her name on it (yes, they all had names on them so) and tried it on.

"Hey, they fit perfectly! I wonder how they knew our sizes?" Mochi took out her uniform and tried it on as well.

"They must be stalkers!" said Tifa.

"It also says we need brushes and hole punched exercise books..." continued Shioru.

"And we don't have any of that," answered Hoshika.

"HURRAH! SHOPPING TIME!" yelled Saiko. Shioru looked shocked.

"You like shopping?!"

"Well it's better than doing random faily crap here," replied Saiko, motioning at the rooms of their plain old house in District 32 of Rukongai.

"Fine then, let's go 'shopping'," said Hoshika, with a slight undertone of sarcasm.

"Can we wear these?" asked Hiyori, pointing at her uniform.

"Yeah, and we can go around saying we got into the Shinigami academy!" said Mochi, the beginnings of a smug look appearing on her face.

"Attention seekers lol," Shioru interjected.

"Fine, do whatever you want. Let's go now," said Hoshika and they all went out the door.

They entered Shiniworks, the one stop stationary shop. They rushed in and collected all the brushes and exercise books that six over-enthusiastic Shinigami-in-training could possibly need.

"Are you girls going to the Shinigami Academy?" asked the cashier, eyeing Hiyori and Mochi and their red academy uniforms.

"Yes we are!" replied Hiyori

"We're finally going to get to leave Rukongai!" said Mochi.

"Ah, I see. Ok…18 brushes plus 12 64pg A4 0.8mm lined hole punched…" He screwed his face up as he calculated the total price.

Tifa handed the money over with a clumsy flourish, vivaciously aware that they were well and truly on their way to becoming shinigami.

"By the way, you can contact your book with any paper you want for free if you buy over 10 exercise books," added the cashier.

"Oh really now?" Saiko said as she attempted to look intelligent, "Lets go!"

They searched through all the rolls at least three times before they found what they wanted.

"Oh my god, they've got a Cloud Strife print!" Tifa grabbed the roll and ran to the cashier before Saiko could snatch it off her.

"I think I'll just go for the clear contact." Shioru handed the roll to the cashier who had finished with Tifa's. "No bubbles or I'll kill you."

"Whoa, look at these colourful stars..." Hiyori picked the shiny starry one.

Saiko chose plain brown parcelling paper to draw on, Mochi choose black and a whiteout pen to draw on it and Hoshika really just couldn't be bothered and got a readymade one so that all she had to do was slip the cover on the book, because whatever she contacts, there will always be bubbles.

Finally they were done, their stationary nicely packed in a blue 'Shiniworks' plastic bag. Leaving the shop, Shioru spotted a cake store and ran straight over and through the door. Hoshika and Mochi decided to buy some stuff in a bookstore and the rest went to eat lunch at 'We Love Ramen!'

Returning to Shioru, she was pressing her face against the glass counter.

"Can I have that stick cake," she asked, but it was muffled because her face was glued to the glass.

"Excuse me, what was that?" asked the cashier politely. Shioru pulled her face away.

"That stick cake." It had a brown top and a yellow body.

"Ah yes, that's a Kasutera(1), or you can call it Nagasaki honey cake." She picked one out and placed it in a paper bag. "Although personally, I think Kasutera is easier to say."

Shioru payed the price and left to the 'We Love Ramen!' shop, where everyone, except for Hoshika and Mochi, were eating. Saiko was eating an extremely spicy shin ramen, wearing an oversize Asian cone hat.

"Nice sombrero you have there," commented Shioru.

"It's not a sombrero, it's an Asian cone hat(2)!" snapped Saiko. "Loser whore woman."

"And as you can see, it's oversized just like your ego," said Hiyori, eating udon. Shioru sat down and took an attentive bite of the cake.

"Ahhh, this stuff is good!" shouted Shioru and then continued to stuff her mouth with the cake.

"Really? Can I have some?" asked Tifa.

"No, go buy one yourself." Shioru continued to stuff herself with the kasutera. "I'm so going to buy this stuff when we get into Seireitei."

Mochi and Hoshika finally came back, Mochi with a book and Hoshika with music sheets.

"What book?" asked Tifa, taking it from Mochi. "NA NI?(3)" The book had no blurb and no title, just a red cover and words inside, and was badly bound. AND it looked second hand.

"None of your business, eat your food." Mochi grabbed the back and flipped to the first page.

Back at home, they packed their bags and changed into the red Shinigami uniforms. They placed some essentials, the new stationary and in Shioru's case, she brought along her teddy bear, Fifi.

"What's with the bear?" asked Hoshika, placing the music sheets carefully inside a red backpack so that it wouldn't crinkle.

"I like it." Shioru put an extra Kasutera in her backpack. Hiyori smuggled a lighter in a secret pocket inside her Country Road bag.

"Can we go blow our money when we get inside Seireitei? I need to buy new books and Shioru needs to get more Kasutera," asked Mochi.

"And I need to get cup ramen," added Saiko.

"Ha, you guys all have to buy food while I already have a stash, from that hotel fridge," Tifa showed her stash inside her bag.

"LOL, sure, but Kasuteras are better."

With their bags packed, they left their home in Rukongai and stepped into…

…Seireitei

**A/N: Please R&R, this chapter was written by machao, next chapter will be by GeNoWaFeR**

**(1) Kasutera is a Japanese cake with a brown top and yellow body as explained before, if you still don't understand, search it on google.**

**(2)The asian cone hat is the one that Shunsui has.. That female Vietnamese rice farmers wear.**

**(3) Na ni means 'what' in jap.**


	3. Chapter 2

Yo~ It's GeNoWaFeR here. I must warn you beforehand, my writing style is quite different to that of machao's and . But its all good ~ because we follow the same plot together heehee.

I would do personal replies, but there aint enough yet…So R&R please!

* * *

**R**ecap:

_Bags packed, they left their home in Rukongai (the owner leased it to someone else soon after) and stepped into_

Seireitei

**E**nd **R**ecap

* * *

**C**hapter **T**wo

As soon as they took their first steps within the walls of Sereitei, they knew their lives had changed forever. The atmosphere here was different to that of Rukongai. In Rukongai there were kids running around the streets, markets had that festive cheer to it and even the darkest alleys seemed appropriate to play games in. Here, everything was relatively quiet, and Saiko's screaming personality was quite certainly out of place.

In the middle of the city, a tall, gleaming tower rose up high into the sky. The six of them looked up at it in perfect awe.

But then..

WHTCKSMACKBANGPADOOMF'TAANGBONG

"Ow!" screamed Tifa.

A baldy and a guy (or was it a girl?) with way too much make up on crashed into them stumbling, then continuing running as if nothing happened. The long pole the baldy was holding had whacked Tifa on the shoulder.

"Watch where you're going with that…stick... thing!" Tifa shouted after them

Baldy turned around,

"It's not a stick, and I'm sorry, but it was your fault you were standing there like star struck goose gazing up at the sky and who-knows-what" he scorned, before turning.

"Honey, don't mind him, he hasn't had his make up for the day yet. Oh god, look at your pores darling, they're HUGE! Well if you have the time, come visit me and I'll give you some wonderful facial cream, it's really effective and you-"

"Yumichika, I'm sorry to interrupt your make-up lesson, but Kenpachi-taichou will get really pissed if we don't go NOW!!" Baldy said urgently.

"Ah yes, I'm coming along, and don't shout dear, it's bad for your complexion." The so-called Yumichika said.

As they left, Tifa seemed to get angrier by the second. Until…

"Nani?!"

"Calm down Tifa, its almost 8 and we're not there yet." Shioru said.

"I do hope they're not at the academy, they have that I'm-too-good-for-you look about them" Hoshika scowled.

They shook their heads and muttered about the insolence of young people these days, then proceeded further into the strange city.

---

"Arghblahblahblahshitheads! Why?! Why are there no shops here? Where will I get my shin ramen?! Fail city sucks balls." Saiko declared, a face that distinctly resembled an angry emoticon on her face.

"Ok guys, seriously, where are we?" Hiyori looked close to hysterics.

"I thought if we took this corner here we'd be there demo wakaranai…" Mochi's voice wavered with uncertainty.

Whooosh

Suddenly a middle-aged man riding a dodgy Asian bike zoomed past.

"CHOTTO MATE!" screamed Mochi

The man stopped and looked back.

"Yes young'uns?

"Can you by any chance take us to Shinigami Academy?"

"Ah, a fresh group of new students, eh? Well you're in luck. I'm a teacher there. You can call me Sanada sensei. Come on!"

The 6 followed him cautiously, often having to jog to catch up with the bike. Before long, they arrived outside a large building.

"Welcome to Shinigami Academy! I think you've missed breakfast, but if you quickly pop up to the kitchen, you might be lucky enough to find some natto left. I don't know why the kids don't like it. It's so good!" Sanada sensei said with a tone that bordered on rambling.

"Arigatou sensei," They chorused, and ran off to the kitchens with Saiko in the lead, screaming something about ramen and death.

------------------------------------

"Ok, you students have been chosen out of the vast population of Rukongai to enter this academy. This is of course a great honour and we hope you strive to do your best during your time here. When we feel you have accomplished what is needed, we will split you off into one of the 13 squads where you will serve that squad and protect the society." Sanada sensei had now donned a more formal way of speaking.

Besides the six girls, there were seven unfamiliar faces. They all looked as determined as them and at Sanada's command, their rigorous training began.

"Starting off, we're just going to test your abilities for now and we'll assign you to your temporary care captains at the beginning of the day tomorrow. Under the captains, we hope you can learn as much as possible and possibly be given your zanpakutous."

There was a murmur of excitement amongst the other students.

"What did he just say?" Mochi asked in confusion. Her expression was mirrored in the faces of her companions.

"Dunno, maybe it's some sort of special ramen?" Saiko shrugged

"Baka, why would we be given ramen? I think its some sort of music…" Hoshika said.

"OMO~~~~~" exclaimed Hiyori

"What?"

"Do you think…it's like those weird uniforms they wear when they kill things?" Hiyori stated excitedly.

"WHOA, it'd be so cool to get one," Shioru said.

"mmhmm" Tifa nodded in agreement.

"Shizuka ni kudasai!" Sanada-sensei said in a stern tone.

--------------------------------------------

"Ek, my arms hurts!" complained Shioru, "All that kidou work is hard!"

"Well at least you can make sparks appear, I can't even get anything to happen!" Tifa exclaimed.

"I can't even remember the words" frowned Hiyori

"HA! Well this is just the start. After all this hefty work, I'll be better than all of you!" Saiko said, puffing up her chest and adopting a smug look.

"Che. Whatever you can do, I can do better," Hoshika piped.

"BREAK'S OVER, BACK TO WORK GUYS" Sanada's voice pierced their conversation.

"Sighh, I need to get some new shoes. These sandals are so hard to walk in, let alone practise,"

Halfway through their unsuccessful practice, a shortie with spiky white hair came into their midst. Short as he was, he had a powerful aura that radiated from him.

"Does anyone feel like we're in a mini earthquake?" Shioru quivered.

"Whoa…that guy has some crazy reiatsu," whispered a trainee shinigami next to them.

"Eh? What's reiatsu?" Tifa asked cluelessly.

"Reiatsu is the spirit power you have. The more powerful you are, the more reiatsu you emit," Sanada-sensei explained, "This is Hitsugaya Toushirou, he's the 10th squad's captain and a good one at that. Haha 'mboy, what brings you here?"

"I just thought I'd come over here for a bit. Nothing important is going on back in the squad and Matsumoto's trying to force me to go to the hot springs out in Rukongai. Just escaped." He cocked his eyebrow as he said the last sentence. For a little guy, his voice was deep and mature.

"Ah, I have an idea, these young'uns haven't seen a zanpakutou yet, so why don't you show them?" Sanada sensei proposed.

"Eh? But I thought he's wearing it already..." Hiyori mused.

"Maybe it's like, a special one you wear underneath?" Mochi reasoned.

"NA NI? But then you'd get hot from all the fighting!" Tifa exclaimed.

"What's this? What do mean 'wearing it already'? A zanpakutou is a sword you idiots!" Sanada sensei said with amusement, "Watch carefully, Toushirou's released shikai is something you don't want to miss."

"Souten ni Zase, Hyourinmaru!"

A light blue dragon emerged, glass-like and glittering. The 13 students looked up in amazement.

"SUGOII!"

------------------------------

"Did you see the way it moved!"

"Did you see how it knocked Sanada sensei out?"

"Did you see how the water froze?"

"Did you see how his hair glistened in the sun?"

…

"Umm…Mochi?" Hoshika asked uncertainly.

"It's all white and pretty!" Mochi stated, quite childishly. "Ok I've decided, from now on, im going to call him Shiro!"

*groan*

*silence*

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"You know, Shiro kinda sounds like my name…" commented Shioru.

-------------------------------

"Wow…today was hard work.. If I have to do that again, I'm going to eat someone." Saiko collapsed onto her bed in the house at the end of the day.

"Yeah, but it was still heaps of fun, eh?" Hoshika smiled, thinking back to when she blasted the wooden board they were practising on.

"OMO~ I can't _wait_ to get a zanpakutou!" Hiyori grinned and started to bounce around.

"I wonder which temporary captain I'll be under." Tifa wondered.

"OOOOOOOOOH I WANT TO BE UNDER SHIRO!" Mochi shrieked.

"Yah, urusai, Mochi" Hiyori said

"Hmm, well, lets get a good night's sleep and wake up refreshed for tomorrow yeah?" Shioru said, cheering them on, "Ganbatte, Ikkimashoii!"

As the sounds of rustling in bed slowly faded off, and everyone fell asleep, Shirou gazed up at the night sky outside the window.

"I hope we can become good shinigami.."

She let out a soft smile before falling asleep, a minute too soon to hear Saiko mumble,

"Oh god, I need ramen"

GeNoWaFeR's A/N's

* * *

**Rukongai:** The bit about kids running around and playing games in dark alleys, I was referring to the time when Renji had flashbacks of when Rukia and him used to play on the streets of Rukongai. It looks like a happy place…so I decided to portray it like that.

**Chotto mate:** Japanese for "wait a minute//second!"

**Asian bike:** You know, the ones Jap students ride to school in those awesome dramasxDD

**Arigatou:** As many of you know, this means "Thank you"

**Shizuka ni kudasai:** "Please be quiet"

**Kidou:** I've forgotten the proper definition, but it's those moves you make with you hands and you chant random stuff like "The 38th destruction: blah blah blah". ( says: baka, WaFeR, it's demon magic!)

**Hot Springs:** I got this from a Shinigami Golden ep. Matsumoto went to the hot springs with Toushirou and the lady at the counter said "Sorry, kids must be accompanied by an adult" and Matsumoto was like "Ah! It's alright, Hitsugaya can bathe with me!" OMO~ so funny

**Ganbatte Ikkimashoii: **Got this from a drama I watched. Someone says "Ganbatte ikkimashoi!" and everyone else goes "Shoi!". It's a bit like "Aussie aussie aussie" "Oi Oi Oi" if you get my drift. Just something to cheer you on

**Akechi Shirou:** I've made her a bit like the leader amongst the 6. It's not that obvious but I decided she was the most calm, smart and not too cocky out of the 6


	4. Chapter 3

:D

hey guys its moshimellow here now! Remember to not be alarmed if the writing style from before changes drastically ^^ because personally, I think I FAIL at writing fan-fiction... but anyways. READ~

* * *

**R**ecap:

_After their first day at Shinigami Academy, the gang are quite __overwhelmed__ tired though rather excited for they had seen for the first time a Zanpakutou (and finally were enlightened to what it was). But not only that, they were told that some day, they would receive one of their own!_

**E**nd **R**ecap

* * *

**C**hapter **T**hree

It was barely morning; everything was still dark, when the ringing started. RING! RING! RING! The 6 occupants of the old apartment woke to the piercing tone of their spirit communicators. Upon picking up, a message appeared on the luminous screen: ALARM. TIME TO WAKE UP, STUDENT OF SHINIGAMI ACADEMY. And then promptly stopped ringing when the user had finished reading the message. Slowly, the six students who were still half asleep forced themselves out of bed and made their way into the shared living room.

"Morning guys," yawned Shioru as she munched through a Kasutera.

"So early!" complained Hiyori. She dragged a brush through her hair and swore silently as the teeth got caught on some tangles. Meanwhile Saiko and Tifa crunched happily on their respective bowls of Cheerios. Hoshika emerged from her room a while later, holding her bag in one hand and a piece of toast in her mouth. She removed the toast from her mouth.

"People. It's nearly 8am. We need to leave now or we will be late." The other 4 looked up at the clock simultaneously. 7.45am.

"Shit!" they shouted.

"Where's Mochi though?" asked Tifa during the chaos caused by her friends packing hastily for school. Just as her name was mentioned, the front door opened and Mochi's head popped in view.

"Hey guys. I think it's about time you leave. I got some food just in case you didn't eat breakfast yet," she said, waving a bag of food and a six-pack of Breaka milk.

"Why are you out so early?" asked Hoshika as she reached automatically for the milk.

"Training," Mochi replied. By now, everyone had already started heading out the door and were walking to the academy, which luckily was only 10 minutes away.

"Training?" Hoshika echoed, "Since when did you do training?"

"Mind your own business, Bakawaka. Just drink your milk. It might go off in this weather," said Mochi before whipping her book out from nowhere and started reading again.

The rest of the group agreed unanimously. It was extremely hot wearing the academy's uniform and with the sun beating down on them as they walked, they just knew that the day was going to be a scorcher.

They walked for a while before finally reaching the beginning of the school gates. Turning the corner, they entered the school and BUMP! Due to the stupidness of walking backwards, Saiko had bumped into a random red head guy. The other 5 turned back to see Saiko sitting on her butt and the red haired guy lying a couple meters away. To their surprise, the guy was attired in black shinigami robes and had a Zanpakutou.

"You okay, Saiko?" asked Shioru as she helped Saiko up.

"Umm. I'm fine but you should go check if the dude that walked into me is still alive. He flew like, a couple of metres...." she replied.

Hiyori and Mochi walked cautiously over to the red haired shinigami and poked him with their feet.

"No use. He's out cold," said Hiyori.

A shout came from within the academy and a teacher ran out.

"What's happening?!" Upon seeing the man on the floor, he paled with shock and then quickly dispersed the crowd that was watching.

"Who did this? How come Renji-dono is like this?" he questioned Hiyori and Mochi who were kneeling next to the man.

"Sensei, it wasn't our fault," said Tifa quickly.

"Yeah. Sai just walked into him and then he flew away..." added Mochi, catching the teacher's doubting expression.

He snorted. "I would think that you lot didn't do anything even if you said nothing. No way would a few novices like you kids be able to knock out Renji-dono, the lieutenant for the 6th squad."

Saiko jumped up indignantly. "Hey! That's mean you-!"

"Shut up Saiko," interrupted Shioru. "Lets just get to class without stirring up anything too big," she added in an undertone. The others all nodded in agreement and slowly made their way to their class. During their departure, Saiko glanced back at the shinigami. She grinned. _Nice eyebrows, freak._

* * *

**A/N:**

**Spirit Communicators: **Those mobile phone look-a-like things. Rukia uses one when she is in Ichigo's world to see where the Hollows are, when they appear and get alerted about them.

**Kasutera: **This has been explained in previous chapters but for the readers who have bad memory or just can't be bothered to check, Kasutera also known as Nagasaki honey cake a Japanese cake with a brown top and yellow body.

**Cheerios: **For those who live in a country which doesn't sell it, it's a type of delicious cereal, which is enjoyed by many people in Australia. I don't know about any other countries that enjoy Cheerios and don't feel the need to ask.

**Breaka: **Again for those who live in a country that doesn't sell is, it's a type of flavoured long-life milk which is a common break-fast/snack drink.

**Bakawaka: **This is just a form of teasing from Mochi to Wakanao. Its baka (meaning stupid or idiot) combined with Waka (the shortened form of Wakanao) and together it is Stupid/idiot Waka.

:D

note/s: SOOO SHORT!


	5. Chapter 4

Ok, so before I start, and make you start clawing at your face like in the Ring, I'd like to say that this is Larrmon/Failermon and my writing "style" is mostly fail posing as crack, and that a lot of the time, I'll be trying to use big words and failing. And yes, Saiko does often run into things. So do I. In fact, I even run into walls.

Sooo.. Recap! Saiko'd just bashed into Renji, though no one really knew who the hell he was then, and made him FLY. The group was on their way to the shinigami academy thing of doom.

---

The group walked along, with Hoshika striding out in the lead, Saiko and Hiyori trailing behind, talking. Everyone else was in the general area. Somewhere.

"Soo.. Saiko.. What was that? I mean, that teacher kept on saying that it would be near impossible for any of us to knock "Renji-dono".. But you did. Does that mean you're some kind of a freak of nature?" Hiyori said nervously, as if she were afraid of Saiko.

Saiko pulled a face, "Well I don't know, but if I'm a freak of nature, you're just a freak.. of radioactive waste. Ha!" she laughed and assumed a superior pose, only to be pushed over by Hoshika a moment later.

Hoshika sneered at the short one, "I reckon Renji just woke up with a major hangover and only needed a little push to go flying. Nothing special, and I bet I could have slammed him all the way back to our house in Rukongai, if you'd given me the chance. And you know what-"

She was cut off by Hiyori and Mochi grabbing her arms and pulling her down the road.

"Don't be so mean Hoshi-Hoshi, Saiko's just a freak with preternatural spiritual powers, that's all."

"Yeah, and I bet you're just jealous because your power hasn't emerged yet and the metaphorical talking brick wall over here was the first to get hers." Mochi chimed in.

Saiko pulled a face at Hoshika's back and ran over to Shioru and Tifa, the two of whom seemed to be having a deep and meaningful conversation.

"Shioru.. Do you actually know where we're supposed to be going?" Tifa looked at Shioru questioningly.

She pulled a face, absentmindedly scratching her head, "Well I was actually assuming that Hoshika and those two were going in the right direction, but now that I think about it, we're probably supposed to be going that way," she pointed at a row of low-roofed buildings.

To be entirely honest, they did not look like much. I mean, you'd expect an academy as important as this would have a more impressive campus, but no, all that it consisted of were the few low slung buildings previously pointed out, an open dirt courtyard, and a large but shabby hall.

Saiko turned around and started walking backwards, "And, if you guys don't mind, we're also late. Run!" she turned and began running towards the buildings Shioru had pointed out.

The others looked at each other, shrugged, and ran after her, scattered all over the road, blocking it up and disenabling any passage past them.

Whumpf!

"Oww, loser, watch where you're going oh shit damn gaaah I'm screwed aren't I?" Saiko trailed off as she looked up at Sanada-sensei as he dusted off his black kimono.

He looked severely down at her, "Well, that certainly hurt. You should probably look where you're going in future, in case you happen to smash into a more strict shinigami than I, such as Yamamoto-sama," Sanada paused, "Not that he'd ever grace you lot with his presence. He is, after all the leader and founder of the renowned Gotei Thirteen."

The last sentence sent waves of murmuring around the group, inducing frowns in all and some, namely Hiyori and Tifa, began to stroke their non-existant beards whilst thinking, trying to remember who the hell this Yamamoto guy was.

Finally, the silence, if you could call it silence with these six girls thinking and muttering to them selves and scratching their heads, was broken, "Who's Yamamoto?", Tifa frowned, the question written in bold, metaphorically, of course, across her face.

Their teacher gasped and reeled, "You don't know who Yamamoto-_sama_ is? How is that even possible? He's only the greatest shinigami ever and the founder of the Gotei Thirteen and this academy. He's the most powerful man that may ever have existed, and.. Oh my god."

"And he's been listening to all that you've said about him and is rather flattered, however, he does not appreciate you, Sanada, spreading lies that I would never visit the very academy that I founded and still visit to this day!" Yamamoto's voice rose in a frightening crescendo from a mild and kind voice to a thundering roar, leaving Sanada stunned and cowering, and the six shinigami-in-training gaping open mouthed at the sudden appearance of this terribly frightening old man with a long beard and many wrinkles so deep one could be forgiven for mistaking them for canyons.

"And you," He turned to the six girls and pointed at Saiko, "You are in trouble for knocking a lieutenant of the Gotei Thirteen over and causing him severe brain damage with your flailing of arms. I expect you to apologise and grovel on the ground in sheer terror of what he may attack you with. Perhaps a large saguaro cactus is in order?"

Saiko cringed, "But the damage couldn't have been that bad.. I mean, it's not like there was much brain to damage.." she took a few steps back as Yamamoto's frown deepened, "was there?"

Shioru stepped forward, a false smile attached to her face, and pushed Saiko back into the group, "Well, I'm sure she can repay her debt by sacrificing all the ramen she may ever owned, so I think it'd be best if we were off now, and we'll keep this one under close guard." On this last note, she shot Saiko a hard glance. Hoshika smirked. Saiko glared and inched her hand ever so slightly closer to the pair of chopsticks she always carried around with her.. You know.. Just in case there was food to be had, or in this case, people to be poked.

"Bakawaka. You're doomed."

Shioru decided it was best to disappear now, and stepped between them, pushing them, "Stop it you two. You can try kill each other later, maybe when there aren't adults around who could easily kick us out back into Rukongai," she turned to the old man, "I'm sorry for their behaviour. You must understand that small minds like to pick small fights."

"Ehm, yes, Shioru's quite right about that, and we're sorry for this interruption. Let's go, you lot." Sanada bowed to Yamamoto and walked away, talking over his shoulder at the students, "We'll be starting with basic kendo moves in the hall over there. Get the bokuto from the racks, and once all the other students arrive, we'll start. My, my, you lot are a handful, aren't you?" He sighed, shook his head and disappeared through a door in one of the smaller, lower buildings.

They walked into the building and were swamped by feelings of excitement, anxiousness, and maybe a little bit of adrenalin. It was dark inside, but random holes in the roof let in light that diffused to lighten the immediate area around it. In these pockets they could see dust motes swirling around.

"Where are the racks?" Tifa peered around in the half light.

"Dunno. Oh wait, there over there!" Hiyori ran to the far corner of the room.

Whumpf!

"Actually, never mind. That was a coat rack, though why they'd need one here, I don't know."

"Nah, I found them. There over here!" Mochi waved the others over to beside the door.

There, in a small, easily overlooked alcove, stood the racks. Dozens of handles poked out from the pigeon hole-esque slots, some looking more hard done by than others. Mochi immediately grabbed the sword the looked the newest, its grip brand new, and the wooden blade polished and untouched. Shioru took the longest one and Hoshika picked a feather weight, wafer thin bokuto, its tip sanded down to the thickness of a sheet of rice paper. Of course Tifa didn't really care and just grabbed one, and Saiko.. She pulled out every single one until she found the wooden sword that she deemed worthy of the title _Winner of all wins!_ this "winner of all wins" was a large and thick sword and small needles hung off the end of the handle. She'd already carved "Win!" onto the blade with one of these needles. Hiyori decided on a small light one, polished so much that it may have had a chance against Mochi's one in a SHINY SHINY SWORD competition.

For a while they all stood there, swinging their swords, testing them, feeling the balance. Hoshika decided she wanted to show off and pulled hers out of its sheath and hitting Saiko over the head, prompting an all out fight between the two.

Just as it looked like the others would have to intervene, and it seemed that they would each go home with a black eye, Sanada walked into the room. They stopped fighting. They turned to face him. Then they started babbling excuses.

"I'm so sorry I swear it'll never happen again and- "

"It was so her fault because she hit me on the head first while she was trying to-"

"Avoid a situation like this because I am a mature and-"

"Idiotic person because she's a-"

"Enough!" Sanada silenced them with a terrible glare and his sharp voice, "That's enough from both of you. Stop this silly feud at once, or you'll both be in big trouble. Now," he turned to the rest of the class, "You may have noticed that we are not using shinai, as we really should be, considering that this is kendo, but we will be using bokuto instead, as they are cheaper to make, and easier to find. They are also more versatile in terms of length, weight, width and the overall feel of the sword. These factors are important to help you find your fighting style and type of sword. Now, class, form two lines, 6 in the front, 7 in the back. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, and breathe. Put down your bokuto, for crying out loud, we're just going to calm down, stretch, and try to avoid killing each other."

The others breathed a sigh of relief.

Saiko twisted her face into a ferocious frown, thinking.

_Well this is going to suck._

END! 8D

--

A/N..

God. 1659 words, not including the recap. I write too much. D|

Xiaska, if you really do insist on being called that, WAS THAT TOO MUCH GODDAMN DIALOGUE FOR YOU? BECAUSE IF IT WAS, STFU. C

Bokuto are just wooden katana. 8D Shinai are what you're supposed to use in kendo, but no one cares.

I have one thing to say. WHY ARE SAIKO AND WAKANAO SO BITCHY AT EACH OTHER?! And yes, I know it's my fault. :|

-failermon!


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 is when the six friends start their kendo training, with their bokuto (wooden katanas). This chapter is written by Jenn (Tifa in the story) and She doesn't have an account on , so she is getting someone else to post it up for her. So not my fault if the language suddenly jumps from _everything_ of _doom_ or _failed_ to normal language =='

Gaah Recap: Saiko runs into sanada sensei the moment she enters the shinigami academy. They get told off and are warned that if they ran into an important person like Yamamoto, they would be in serious trouble. It just so happens then that Yamamoto was behind them all along. Yamamoto tells Saiko off for causing severe brain damage to Renji, lieutenant of Gotei Thirteen. The six friends start learning kendo and get their bokuto. Hoshika and Saiko get into a fight while Hoshika was trying to draw her sword. Sanada sensei decided to try and calm everyone down by doing exercises not involving the use of a Bokuto

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They started off doing small stretching exercises, not involving the use of their Bokutos, something that Sanada sensei thought would help restrain a terribly difficult pair of girls called Hoshika and Saiko.

Even so, Saiko managed to provoke Hoshika when she commented that her rear looked like an oversized peach while she was bending over.

Hoshika raised an eyebrow at the offending piece of..._thing_ in front of her and said, "A peach? Who knew such an idiot would be capable of such an... unrealistic and utterly unamusing insult?"

"Will you two ever stop talking?" boomed Sanada sensei's menacing voice. Shaking his head, he decided that preventing the use of their bokuto made no difference to Saiko and Hoshika's fierce rivalry.

"Alright, you may now pick up your bokuto. Do not, under any circumstances swing them around without my permission; keep them to yourself."

As the others stood around waiting for the next instruction, swinging and testing out their swords anyway, Sanada sensei paced the room.

"Stop hunching, Saiko-san," snapped Sanada as he strode past her.

Saiko took no notice and glared at him behind his back.

"Right. First I want all of you to stand at least 2 metres apart from each other, to prevent any accidents," he turned and glared at Saiko and Hoshika, "from happening. Next, I want you to all hold your sword in a comfortable position that suits you."

Hoshika looked around the room. Everyone except herself was unsure of their stance, their hold of their sword. She glanced at Saiko running around madly. Already she was crazily swinging her sword around, obviously paying no attention to what Sanada just said. Shioru was repeatedly putting one hand over the other, Tifa and Mochi were pretending to dramatically fake their deaths. Hiyori kept unsheathing her thin sword dramatically as if preparing for battle.

"That's not how you do it!" yelled Saiko, who ran past Hoshika, pulled her own sword out violently, and whacked Hoshika in the back.

"Oww! Oh my god Saiko, I think you broke my back!"

"Bakawaka!"

Alarmed but smug, Saiko stepped closer to poke her in the back and to further humiliate Hoshika. Hoshika side-stepped around Saiko and tugged her ponytail sharply, causing her to lose her balance and fall to the ground.

"Saiko, Hoshika, shut the hell up before I-" Shioru started to say when Sanada walked over and forced the two apart.

"You two have really reached the limit of my patience." Sanada said, his voice trembling with anger and frustration.

Saiko and Hoshika stood there, giving each other death glares. Sanada forced them apart and sent them to opposite ends of the room. Sanada resumed walking around, making sure Hoshika and Saiko kept their distance. Mochi and Tifa resumed their "fight" and their staged deaths while Hiyori continued to unsheathe her sword.

Ignoring the obviously indifferent group, he proceeded to start on practice duels.

"NOW." Sanada sensei boomed, catching everyone's attention.

Everyone jerked their heads towards Sanada, apart from Hiyori, who merely glanced at Sanada before resuming her dramatic one handed 'unsheathing'. Tifa elbowed her in the ribs.

"Everyone pay attention please," continued Sanada sensei.

"Once you've got the general feel of your Bokutos, we will practice sparring with one another. This is to help you learn the basics of fighting, as well as the rules and some tactics you could employ."

A mention of actually being able to fight sent a whisper around the room.

"Who are we going to spar with?" asked a slightly nervous Mochi. She shuddered at the thought of meeting Yammamoto once again.

"Yeah, do I get to duel with that what's-its-name…red haired loser with no brains? Ahh..that Renji-dono guy?" Saiko chimed in with a distinct smirk on her face.

"Most definitely NOT. I-"Sanada started to say.

"I hope I get to duel the baldy with the long stick…and teach him not to walk around swinging blocks of wood…" growled Tifa, screwing her hands into fists.

At this, the class erupted with murmurs of who they'd like to fight against.

"Silence!" shouted an exasperated Sanada. "I will repeat, we are sparring only with one another. Weren't you two listening? Even if you were allowed to fight with such highly ranked Shinigamis, you would be dead in a few minutes at best.'

Saiko screwed up her face and muttered something almost inaudible about smashing someone's face into the ground repeatedly.

"_Like hell,_" Tifa muttered.

"Everyone is to pair up. Quickly choose your partner now." Sanada commanded.

Everyone besides the six friends immediately paired up. Then Hiyori and Mochi looked at one another, walked and stood together. "Hiyori!" shouted Mochi. "Mochi!" Hiyori shouted back. Saiko and Hoshika right away faced one another and growled menacingly, each with a hand on the hilts of their bokuto, as if threatening the other.

Tifa walked over and hugged Shioru. "Gahh," She muttered, with a slight hint of amusement in her voice.

Sanada was the first to realize that the troublesome pair had decided to fight one another. He quickly strode over to them. "Saiko, why don't you pair up with dear Tifa here," Sanada suggested, motioning towards Tifa, who was still clinging to Shioru.

Saiko kept her teeth gritted, staring at Hoshika.

"And Hoshika, please pair up with Shioru. I'm sure you two will get along," Sanada continued, glancing back and forth at the obvious competition between Saiko and Hoshika. Shioru simply glanced at Sanada, before walking away with Tifa towards where Hiyori and Mochi were standing. Hiyori and Mochi were also watching Sanada attempting to separate Saiko and Hoshika.

"Sighh," said Hiyori. "Can we just get on with it?" She wondered aloud.

Sanada turned to face Hiyori. Hiyori froze. She opened her mouth to apologise, and closed it again when Sanada said to Saiko and Hoshika, "Ok, then you may spar together, however I will not permit any actions that could be potentially dangerous, nor any aggressive behavior."

"What? Isn't that the whole point of this? Trying to skewer your partner on the end of your bokuto?" spluttered Saiko.

Upon hearing this, Sanada frowned, "Absolutely not. The point is to attempt to disarm, to bring the other to the ground, or to hit them somewhere they are able to defend. Aggression is useless and will only hurt you."

Sanada turned around. "On three, you will bow to your partner. On two, take your stance. On one, you may begin."

"Three."

Mochi laughed as she bowed to Hiyori, when Hiyori curtsied in return.

Hoshika and Saiko, catching Sanada's glare, each jerked their torso down a fraction and straightened almost immediately. To the others, it looked like they were having back spasms. Tifa and Shioru obediently bowed to each other.

"Two."

At once Hoshika and Saiko's bodies jolted, suddenly tense with their bokuto at the ready and a deadly glint in their eyes. Hiyori pulled her bokuto gracefully out of its sheath, which, after all that practicing, looked pretty damn good. Mochi pulled hers out slowly. Shioru pulled hers out to the right, while Tifa pulled hers upwards and backwards, towards her head. Everyone waited silently.

"One."

Each pair around the room had different reactions. Some stood there, not sure of what to do, some immediately charged at one another, while some resorted to mindlessly stabbing at their opponent.

Hoshika and Saiko stood facing one another, teeth gritted, eyes narrowed, and swords poised, not speaking or moving. To the others, it was a hilarious to see them take this so seriously, looking like they were putting their lives on the line.

By that time, Shioru and Tifa had already finished their fight, Shioru being the winner when she knocked Tifa's sword out of her hand. Tifa randomly broke down laughing at Saiko's screwed up face as she stared at Hoshika, and also at Hoshika when she attempted to strafe left, and tripping over herself when she stepped on her robes.

Nearby, Hiyori and Mochi were jumping, bouncing around, trying to avoid each others attacks.

"You look like spastic frogs!" Saiko shouted out of nowhere.

Hoshika turned her head to see what Saiko was gawping at, leaving her open to Saiko. Saiko, noticing Hoshika's diverted attention, darted forward, swinging her sword back, bracing her torso in preparation for the hit. She was only a metre away from getting Hoshika, when she turned around.

Her amused smile disappeared as quickly as her common sense as she spotted Saiko in front of her, sword raised and ready to strike. Any other day she would have the brains to dodge out of the way, but instead she stepped forward and swung her own sword around to meet Saiko's.

There was a loud bang-clang-whplow-thump and other various noises as they both pushed off the other's sword, sending each other backwards, towards the opposite ends of the room.

A few seconds later, Hiyori got pushed to the ground. Mochi stood behind her, smirking. She had spontaneously stepped behind Hiyori, and caught her unaware.

Meanwhile, Hoshika and Saiko were recovering on opposite ends of the room. Hiyori and Mochi rushed to Hoshika who was rubbing her head. "Where is Saiko? Did I knock her out? Serves that sly dim-wit right for attacking when my attention was on Hiyori and Mochi."

Tifa and Shioru ran to Saiko.

"Are you okay? You can be really stupid sometimes, you know?" Shioru told Saiko.

"I'm fine." replied Saiko, sitting up, then flopping back down a ridiculous smile on her face, "but Hoshika probably isn't. She took long enough to realize that the duel had already started... did I blast her to the other end of the room? Hah, oh god, I bet I killed her and blasted her bloody remains all the way to freaking Rukongai!" she cracked up and doubled over on the last word.

"Err, Sai? You two blasted each away. See? You're on this side of the room, a Hoshika's over on that side," Tifa pointed out the obvious, looking over at Hoshika on the opposite side of the room.

Saiko looked around. Yes, she was at the edge of the room, and Hoshika was at the other. Her face screwed up as she tried to recall exactly what happened.

_Hoshika turned away, and I took my chance and charged at her. But I was close to hitting her when she turned around, and swung her Bokuto at me. Which means, I would have won, considering she got blasted just trying to counter my attack._

Saiko turned to Shioru. "Is Hoshika hurt?"

Taken aback by Saiko's sudden niceness towards Hoshika, she replied, "Umm, I don't know, you want me to check? Though, you weren't hurt that bad, so I'm guessing she shouldn't be that bad either, but I'll go check anyway," Shioru turned and proceeded to where Hoshika was sitting on the ground.

Tifa helped Saiko up and flinched as Sanada stormed over.

"What did I say? You lot are the most infuriating group I have ever met." Sanada shook his head and walked away.

"Hey, Saiko wants to know if you are alright, Hoshika." Shioru informed Hoshika.

Hoshika raised her eyebrow, and answered, "Yes, I'm perfectly fine, as a matter of fact. I suppose she knows I've won?"

"What the hell?," They all jerked their heads around to look at Saiko flailing, "How can you call that a win? You just flailed your arm around to stop me from smashing you through the damn wall! I obviously win. You fail Bakawaka, and so does your logic."

"Hey, Sai, when did you come?" Mochi asked.

"OMO! She came just then, Mochi, didn't you see? And it looks like there's going to be another fight…" Hiyori answered, looking just a little bit frightened.

"Oh yeah?" Hoshika cut in, crossing her arms and looking vaguely defiant, "Well you were the one to charge at me, and even so, you didn't even catch me unaware. Quick reflexes, that's me," she paused and grinned, "Besides, it's not the same as taking me on when my attention was on you, so you should be disqualified. Cheapass."

"What the hell you guys?! You both smashed each other the _opposite ends_ of this room. You can't tell who was the winner or the loser. So, it's a tie. Happy?" Shioru was getting pissed. _Competitive and immature idiots._

"Ties are lame, and for the record, I won." Hoshika drawled, rolling her eyes.

"I call for a rematch! Now! Seriously! 'Cause ties are stupidstupidstupidstupidstuuuuupiiiiiiiiiiiiid!" Screamed Saiko, flailing her arms and looking distinctly pissed off.

In an attempt to calm them down, Shioru then suggested that they _both_ won.

"_Like hell_," growled Tifa. "You both _lose_, for being so stupid. Sai was being cheap and tried to win by striking when Hoshi's back was turned, and Hoshi was slow not to realize that she was open to Saiko when she didn't pay attention. See? Pure stupid. Case closed. No objections."

Hiyori and Mochi were the only ones smart enough to stay out of it. Instead, they were discussing Kat-Tun and DBSK.

It was nearly time to go back home. Sanada clapped his hands twice, to get everyone's attention. "Everyone, well done. Well, except some of you," he glared pointedly at Hoshika and Saiko," We made some superb progress today, and I pray you will remember the layouts of these duels. You may put your bokuto back in the racks, and then return here to collect your possessions."

The six friends stopped arguing and shuffled to the wall where all the bokuto were kept. The area was dark, just like the first time when they entered to take their bokuto. Again there were holes in the roof. They quickly spotted the racks where they initially found them, Mochi and Hiyori taking care to put them back where they found them. Hoshika, Tifa, Shioru, and Saiko didn't care and just shoved them in.

They each walked out of the room, wondering what their final zanpaktou would look like.

"What do you guys reckon your zanpakutou is gonna be like?" asked Mochi.

"Don't know, don't care, don't give a damn," answered Shioru.

"Hmm, I haven't thought about that, but I think it'll be awesome," said Tifa.

"Ha! Mine would be so much better than yours," Saiko shot a look back at the other four. "And all of yours too."

Hoshika snorted, "Oh yeah, and what's _yours_ gonna be like? I bet it'll be a big, fat, heavy piece of metal"

"Mine's definitely going to be small and light with a wonderful sheath." said Hiyori.

They walked back to where the rest of their class was standing, where Sanada was waiting for them.

"What took you lot so long?" he looked at them, then noticed the rest of the class getting impatient and sighed," Never mind, just hurry up and sit down."

The six obediently sat down.

"I have been asked to remind you that tomorrow….." Sanada rambled on.

Everyone slouched down comfortably to prepare for Sanada's tedious dictating.

"Gee I'm so tired…can't wait to go home…" yawned Shioru.

"I need ramen…now!" Saiko pulled a face and fiddled with her chopsticks.

"Did Sanada tell us to bring our books tomorrow? And which size brush did he say to bring?22, 43, or 67?" A girl sitting next to Mochi asked.

"Size 67 brush, and bring your books. I think," Mochi answered.

_Muahahah, _she thought. _You don't need a brush._

"Yay, I get to bring my shiny starry contacted books!" exclaimed Hiyori.

Upon hearing this, Tifa sat up, "OMG that means I get to stare at Cloud for the WHOLE DAY!" she adopted a far away look and began to stare at nothing in particular.

"Oh no, I didn't white-out anything on my books! Hiyori, you must help!" Mochi said.

"Finally, you are required to come half an hour early tomorrow, for the demonstration. Mochi, may I ask you to repeat what I just said?" Sanada stared at Mochi expectantly.

"I, uh, umm..Well you-" Mochi started to say.

"Pay attention, yes?" He cut her off and turned to the rest of the class, "Don't forget class, and come half an hour earlier tomorrow." Sanada frowned at Mochi and the others.

"You are dismissed."

The six friends at once stood up and strolled out of the class room, ready to go back home.

Sorry everyone for taking soo long, my computer died and then I went overseas. So I tried to make it long :)


	7. Chapter 6

**Six Shinigami Chronicle**

**Disclaimer**: I do not own the insult "cross-dressing cockroach". It's from Harry Potter: The Prisoner of Azkaban, the movie…I think…

**Chapter 6  
****Zanpakutous and Chopsticks  
****-.x.X.x.-**

"Today class, you will be given your Zanpakutou."

In front of the thirteen students lay, in a neat row, thirteen swords, each a carbon copy of the other. As the fascinated students walked between the swords, touching them and running their hands over the blades, Sanada started to lecture them.

"These swords are nothing but empty vessels. As the weeks pass, I will demonstrate to you the uses of a Zanpakutou and you will then be allowed, under strict supervision, to put your reiatsu into these empty vessels. The Technology Development Bureau has created them specifically so that they are exceptionally receptive to reiatsu. But before all that happens, I will issue you with your Zanpakutou."

With that, Sanada shooed the oohing and ahhing students back to their seats before gathering all the empty vessels. As he zigzagged through the seats the students were sitting at, our six friends were at the back chatting about one thing or another.

"Omo~, I wonder what my Zanpakutou will look like!" exclaimed Hiyori.

Saiko puffed her chest up and bragged, "I bet my Zanpakutou will be the Winner of All Failures!" her voice dropped to a lower tone and she grinned.

Mochi, Tifa and Hiyori started to crack up at the ridiculous title while Shioru sweatdropped and proceeded to tell Saiko that it was a contradiction, unless of course, her Zanpakutou will be the most failing Zanpakutou ever, which she really shouldn't be boasting about. Hoshika, on the other hand, decided to completely ridicule her imaginary, as she hasn't received it yet, Zanpakutou.

"If it's the 'Winner of All Failures', I'm sure it can't do much," she said offhandedly.

"Your face can't do much," Saiko retorted.

Everyone sitting at the desk thought, _such an original comeback_, sarcastically.

"If my face can't do much, then I wonder about yours, Kira," Hoshika's voice dripped with venom.

"Mine is the Winner of All Wins!" Saiko smiled brightly.

Hoshika raised an eyebrow before faking a coughing fit. "I'm sorry," she said with a sickly-sweet smile plastered onto her face. "I just choked on some air, what was it that you were saying?"

Saiko just glared at her and said nothing because Sanada was just a few desks away, handing Shioru her empty vessel. Shioru bowed politely before examining her empty vessel. Hiyori did the same and Mochi too. Tifa though, commented on how 'un-right' it felt in her hands.

"Of course, as these are empty vessels without your reiatsu, it is not moulded to your requirements. Once, however, you have put your reiatsu into these empty vessels, it will fit perfectly, as if you have wielded the sword all your life."

Tifa nodded her understanding and Sanada turned to the two troublemakers. The two, namely Wakanao Hoshika and Kira Saiko, were having a glaring contest, completely ignoring the teacher, and so Sanada left it to them, leaving the empty vessels on their desks, sensing that it was wiser to let them go on rather than get caught up with the rainbow-seizure eyes that Saiko was glowering with but were completely ineffective against Hoshika's sky blue ones.

Mochi decided to add fuel to the fire and said loudly enough for the two to hear, "I wonder who's gonna be able to put their reiatsu in first?"

"Yeah, after all, Sanada-sensei did say 'under strict supervision' which implies that it is dangerous or something to that effect," Tifa prodded the fire with a stick and the fire devoured it greedily.

"Omo~ Let's have a bet," Hiyori said jumping up and down. "I bet—"

"10 on me!" Saiko stood up in the middle of class and waved her arms around. All surrounding students leant ever so slightly away from her, because they didn't really want to end up in the 4th division's healing centre with a hairline fracture in their skulls.

"Che," Hoshika folded her arms and leant back on her chair, smirking ever so slightly. "15 on me, because whatever you can do, I can do better."

Shioru glared at the two loud mouths. "Sit down, Saiko! Both of you are too loud for your own good." She added under her breath something about needing aspirins and killing someone— correction, two people— with her Zanpakutou once she'd put her reiatsu in.

"Point," Sanada's voice flowed across the classroom sounding irritated and obviously not at all happy. "Kira, Wakanao, outside, NOW!"

Both of the girls exchanged a scowl before stalking out the door and into the silent corridor. They did not look at each other, rather they had their arms folded and directed their eyes pointedly in the opposite direction, chins and noses in the air.

Sanada looked down at the two girls, a scowl on his ageing face, "You two are just far to irritating for me to endure in there. Stay out here until I call you back in, and for heaven's sake, stay out of trouble, or I might just call Yamamoto-sama down here to sort you both out for good," he finished speaking, eyed them both carefully, then sighed and walked back inside, closing the door with a air of intense weariness.

"This is all your fault, Bakawaka," Saiko said through gritted teeth

"I don't respond to Bakawaka, you loud-mouth, good-for-nothing, all-brute-strength-and-no-skills, and I quote Kanda, 'metaphorical brick wall'," Hoshika huffed.

"Oh you… you freaking…" Saiko searched for the right word.

"Me what?" Hoshika smirked again.

A long period of silence followed, and during this period, two things happened. Saiko clawed at her face and tried to remember a word that would fit, and Hoshika… She just stood there, and waited. And waited. And waited.

"You, you freaking midget-y Little One!" she shouted.

"Is that all you got?" Hoshika quirked an eyebrow at the _shorter_ girl and continued, "just because I'm younger than you, that doesn't mean that I'm any less then you. In fact, I feel as if I'm the superior one and you, the inferior one, you short, measly, unappreciable, arrogant cross-dressing cockroach-brat who thinks that she rules the world and that she is the best when really she fails!"

"…" Saiko didn't even bother trying to understand the long string of words that Hoshika had just spewed, knowing that it only contained unintelligent babble about how Saiko was in general, a bitch, and instead, she reached for her ever so handy pair of chopsticks so that she might gouge Hoshika's eyes out.

"You are so dead, Bakawaka!"

**.x.X.x.**

"And that is the very first lesson of the Zanpakutou chapter. For homework, you are to read through the chapter again and answer questions one to twenty. You are also advised to practise with your empty vessels, whichever way you wish, be it slashing at falling logs, or cutting as many leaves as you can as they fall. The questions are due in—"

CLASH!

"Ow!" Hoshika's voice could be heard through the classroom door, shrill and angry. "Watch where you wave those chopsticks! They belong in your endless supply of ramen—"

More clashing interrupted Hoshika and the students in the class gazed at the door in awe and fear, wondering what their fellow classmate would look like after the terrible bashing being received right now. Sanada tried to ignore the loud noise that cut into his mundane speech, which he had to deliver, but couldn't concentrate when the whole class was staring at the door and not paying attention to what he was saying.

"TARUNDORU! (1)" Sanada roared, and he headed towards the door. His reiatsu flew so high that even Saiko, who was not very sensitive to reiatsu, though she went through the same training as say, the person most sensitive to reiatsu, could feel it and cowered in fright when Sanada flung open the door. "What's going on here?"

"Kira, here, was trying to murder me with her chopsticks," Hoshika glared at the accused, her body marked with red lines where she had been too slow to dodge the onslaught of Saiko's chopstick attack.

"Chopsticks confiscated. Hand them over."

Kira narrowed her eyes as she slowly handed them over. Her clothes and hair were decidedly quite messed up, probably from charging at Hoshika, missing, and damaging whatever was behind her at the time, which unfortunately, were walls. "She was the one who started it! Her mouth should be confiscated!"

"Don't be absurd Kira, it's not like you can confiscate my mouth," Hoshika said, looking at Saiko weirdly, as if she was an alien with extra eyes.

"Tarundoru!" Sanada growled before massaging his temples. "If it wasn't for the fact that the principal will have my neck if he finds out that there are two uncontrollable girls here that I can't control, you'd have been sent to him many days before, if only for knocking Renji-dono down.

"I would also think that giving detention is a good idea, what do you say? Two hours after school.

"Letting you two out of my sight is a mistake that I will not make again. And making me angry is a mistake _you_ will not make again, clear? Inside, both of you. I now realise that I can't possibly trust you to be outside on your own and not fight."

The two girls that had just gotten scolded bowed and nodded their understanding before filing into the classroom and resumed their seats at the back. They threw furious glances at each other, but otherwise did not do anything to provoke each other, and quickly skimmed through the chapter that they had missed. The book talked about Zanpakutou being from the wielder's soul, an inseparable partner who will guide you.

When Sanada snapped his book shut, creating a loud boom that echoed slightly, everyone's head shot up to attention and listened carefully. Sanada, after repeating his instructions, dismissed the class. At once, the classroom was filled with chairs scraping, loud voices calling to each other — notably Kira's, who was asking Mochi about the badly bonded book she was reading under her desk— and people hurrying towards the door. But before the first person could even reach the door, the air in the room suddenly changed to stuffy, thick and hard to breathe in. Though the reiatsu pressure wasn't bad, the abrupt change made the whole room stop, heartbeats thumping loudly in each student's ears as the waited for something to happen.

"These look like classrooms. We're lost again," A loud voice boomed ahead.

**

* * *

**

**AN**: If you may have forgotten, Kanda is Mochi's last name, I'm referring to the sentence Hoshika says, '...and I quote Kanda...'.

Tarundoru is basically a superior snapping. It means, "That's enough". It is also Sanada Genichirou from Prince of Tennis' catch phrase.

Sorry to the readers who were looking forward to knowing the other characters more indepth besides Kira Saiko and Wakanao Hoshika, we will be resolving the issue soon...we hope.

Yes, larrmon, Zanpakutou must be capitalise, because in my dictionary, Zanpakutou is a proper noun, therefore it must be capitalised.

(The cycle has begun again!)


	8. Chapter 7

Disclaimers: Bleach is not ours, bladibladibla. Sanada Genichirou is not ours, he belongs to PoT. We're only using the name, not the actual person.

Claimers: All our respective characters are ours.

Author: machao

Please try to enjoy :D it will make us me happy. Although I did kinda rush this.

* * *

Everyone stood still as they waited to see who the owner of the voice was. But one, Kira Saiko, who had not felt, nor heard anything, continued to walk and talk loudly about Mochi's secret book.

"Hey, why are you guys stopping?" Saiko asked, now walking backwards. "You slow people, I'm refuse to stay around here any longer." Turning around to get through the door, Saiko smashed headfirst into a tall, tall man with a muscular chest, from what everyone else could see. The man shifted slightly onto his right foot when Saiko crashed into him. And to everyone else's surprise, Saiko was the one flailing on the floor.

"Duuude, get me up someone! Ow, that damn hurt!!" shouted Saiko, her hand on her injured forehead.

"You're heavy, ya know girl?" asked the man with a smirk on his face.

"Hey, Kenny, she made you move when she head-butted you! Isn't that special?" whispered a pink-haired girl clinging to his back.

Sanada rushed over when he heard the crash. "Oh no!! Kenpachi-dono!!!! Are you all right? I'm so sorry, this student tends to…get in everyone's way," apologised Sanada.

"Hey you—!"

Hiyori and Tifa rushed over to help Saiko up. "Shh, Saiko, you don't want to get into any more trouble," said Hiyori.

Shioru facepalmed. "Is this the second person she has collided into since we came to Seireitei?"

"Humph, serves her right for shouting out I was reading a book during class!" said Mochi.

"First a lieutenant, now a captain. Ha, Saiko does pick her people to smash around with doesn't she?" commented Hoshika.

"I'm alright Genichirou(1), there's nothing wrong," said Kenpachi, he still wore a dodgy smirk on his face. "Central 47 sent me to talk with you since you are the head teacher of the Shinigami Academy."

"Um, yes, okay. Class, you're dismissed now." Sanada then walked away with Kenpachi.

_That girl, she's got some pretty strong reiatsu._

* * *

"Did you see that? That Kenpachi guy didn't fly away like the other red head with tattooed eyebrows!" shouted Saiko. She seemed rather excited, even with the injury.

"He's a captain, Saiko," said Hoshika. "You're simply just not strong enough."

* * *

It was 6 am. Shioru got up quietly so as to not wake up the rest of her friends. She checked Mochi's bed, which was empty as usual.

_Mochi must be at her training thing where she wakes up at 5._

Shioru grinned. She had two things that needed to be completed. One was to practise kidou, and two was to find out what the hell Mochi did in her 'training'. Grabbing a kasutera from her 'breakfast' box and then drinking a cup of water, she left to the training academy. There, she borrowed a kidou target board and made her way into the nearby forest.

Shioru walked along the pathway until it stopped at a clearing. In the middle of the clearing, on a tree stump, sat Mochi with a blindfold.

_Is that what your training is? Meditation?_

Shioru crept towards Mochi as silently as possible. This was an easy task for Shioru was skilled in it. Accidentally, she stepped on a stick. It snapped and Mochi's head immediately turned to the sound.

"Who's there?" she asked coldly.

"Take your freaking blindfold off Mochi," replied Shioru. Mochi did so and looked slightly surprised.

"Shioru? What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to stalk you," said Shioru. "So this is what your so called training is? Meditation???" She set up her target board and backed away from it a fair distance.

"Yep, it makes me focus on my surroundings so I'll be able to hear everything! I woke up at 5 for this. Some stupid voice in my head keeps waking me up at that time," said Mochi, sounding slightly angry.

"Heh, you couldn't sense me until that stick cracked." Shioru readied a stance and focused. "Now, watch this. Destructive Arts No.31: Shot of Red Fire!" A ball of red energy flew from Shioru's hands to the centre of the target.

"Oh wow, you did something," said Mochi, who wasn't really impressed.

"I did this spell last time we had a kidou lesson! Don't you remember?"

"Heh, no one ever really notices what you do Shioru."

"Oh shut up. Anyway, this time, I did it without the incantation." Shioru pumped her fist in the air before continuing to fire balls of energy.

"You know you're gonna deplete your energy doing that," informed Mochi.

"Dude, get on with your own _training_ Mochi. I'll stop later."

* * *

"Now class, today we will practice kidou and hakuda. Kidou is a relatively new thing for you. We've only had one lesson on it before and most of you couldn't manage anything, except for dear Shioru and Toshiie," Sanada pointed them out.

"Nerd," muttered Saiko to Shioru, not that she gave a damn.

"Today, we will continue to practice the Destructive Arts Number 31: Shot of Red Fire. Now class, please choose a target board," Sanada pointed to the 13 boards, all spaced out evenly. The students took their stance. "I'll remind you the incantation. If you can cast the spell without the incantation, then you have mastered it." The whole class listened intently to the words. "Now remember, you must focus solely on this, if your mind wanders, you will not be able to do it correctly. Go!"

Everyone started to chant the same words and then fired. A couple of people fired properly, some fired a weak shot and some, namely Saiko, couldn't even manage a spark.

"Well done Tifa, good job," said Sanada, noticing that Tifa had improved since last time.

"Thank you sensei."

Then everyone continued practicing the spell.

"Shioru, why can't I do anything?" asked Saiko and started to shake Shioru's arm.

"Well you focus—"

"I am focusing, I'm trying, I remember the words and then I fire and nothing comes!" Saiko then demonstrated what she was doing.

"You got the hand motion all wrong! Look, watch me do it." Shioru moved her hands about correctly and a ball of red energy lodged itself in the centre of the target.

"WHAT? I DON'T GET IT!" shouted an exasperated Saiko. Shioru sighed. Then Sanada clapped his hands to silence them.

"Now I will go through each person individually and see what you have achieved," he announced.

"Shit!" swore Saiko.

"Hiyori, you first."

"Umm, hai sensei," replied Hiyori and she loudly repeated the incantation, moving her hands as well and fired a relatively strong shot. She smiled to herself, happy that she had done well.

"Good job Hiyori," Sanada went on to the next person, Mochi.

"Kanda Mochi, it's your go."

Mochi calmly breathed in and swiftly did the exact same as Hiyori. The energy ball landed a bit off the centre.

"Nice effort, Mochi."

Next to Mochi was Tifa. She said the incantation with force. "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Destructive Arts No.31: Shot of Red Fire!" The shot dented the centre of the board.

"It seems as if you've have improved in matter of a few minutes. As I said before, well done! Now, onto the next student."

Hoshika lazily uttered the words and fired a rather weak shot. Sanada had a slightly disappointed look on his face while Hoshika's expression didn't really give away anything.

"Needs improving Hoshika," commented Sanada. Hoshika nodded but said nothing.

"Ooooo, it's your turn Saiko," muttered Shioru. Before Saiko could say something back, Sanada called out her name. She flicked another glance at Shioru, hoping for help, but none came.

"Kira Saiko!" called Sanada again. Saiko called out the incantation, moving her hands correctly this time. But nothing was summoned; there was no red energy ball. "Ummmm, ehhhh..." managed Saiko. The whole class was silent until Sanada faked a cough and said, "I'll...I'll come back to you." Shioru smiled seeing as it was her turn. It was time to show what she could do.

"Shioru."

"Hai sensei." Positioning herself, Shioru focused all in and started without the incantation. "Destructive–"

"Shioru! Have you forgotten about the incan–" Sanada was cut off as Shioru continued.

"– Arts No.31: Shot of Red Fire!!" finished Shioru. The impact of Shioru's 'Shot of Red Fire' shattered the target board. Her hand flew to her mouth with worry and she laughed nervously. Breaking the board was not what she had in mind. "Do I have to pay for that? It wasn't intentional!" Sanada stared at her for a while before snapping out of the trance.

"...No…you don't have to pay..." Sanada coughed. "Have you been practicing outside of school?"

"Yes..."

"Don't do that it's dangerous! What if you harm someone or something in the process??"

"Ok sensei," Shioru bowed so as to cover her smirk.

_As if I'll stop practicing kidou. It's fun._

"So I don't have to pay for that board right?"

"No you don't," repeated Sanada. It seemed Shioru only cared about her money. "Anyway, despite your irresponsible actions, you have showed us that you can cast the spell without incantation. Therefore you have mastered it. Well done. I'm sure you'll improve, _without_ the use of out-of-school lessons." Shioru nodded at his words, only listening to the praise. "Next student is Toshiie. You haven't been taking extra lessons too, have you?"

"No sensei, I wouldn't _dare_ to." And so Sanada went through the rest of the class and finished today's kidou lesson.

"Now, we will begin our first lesson on hakuda, hand-to-hand combat. I'll teach you a few moves before you get into pairs and spar," announced Sanada.

"Hey, don't you think sensei seems rushed today?" whispered Tifa.

"Yeah, I think so too, normally he lectures us before going onto the real thing," muttered Shioru. Sanada heard someone talking but didn't know who it was.

"Saiko? Were you talking in class?" he asked.

"What?? No, I didn't say a word! Why do you always think it's me?" retorted Saiko.

"You guys..." Mochi shook her head at Tifa and Shioru who were trying to contain their laughter. Then Sanada continued to show them the basic moves in hakuda, namely how to punch and kick properly, and not be girly. The class copied Sanada's movements until he was satisfied.

"All right now, pair up and have a short sparring session, I want to see what you can do," said Sanada, and then he immediately rushed over to 'the Group'. "I want you to mix up your pairs. So Hoshika, don't pair up with Saiko!" Yes, Sanada was afraid of them fighting each other, because nothing good ever happened between those two.

"Fine then. Shioru?" asked Hoshika. Shioru nodded and they started their fight. Since Hiyori couldn't go with Mochi, she instantly chose Tifa.

"Whew, I thought I was gonna be with Saiko. It's scary to fight her, after all she is psycho," said Tifa.

"Mochi!!" Saiko shouted before throwing a punch at Mochi, which she barely dodged.

"Sai, I wasn't ready yet!" said Mochi as she dodged another wild kick. She continued to dodge more attacks, waiting for an opening so she could land a blow. Finally she spotted one and went for the kill but Saiko noticed where Mochi was going to hit so she blocked with her hands. Grabbing Mochi by the wrists, Saiko threw her to the floor. Then she faked some punches to her head.

"Sai? Why aren't you attacking me?" asked Mochi seeing that Saiko had on purposely not landing any of the blows.

"You'd be dead by now if I did. Blows to the head are fatal!" replied Saiko. Mochi got up and dusted herself. "I WIN!!" yelled Saiko and she raised her arms above her, flailing slightly. Mochi looked over to Tifa and Hiyori's battle. Tifa threw a punch towards Hiyori's head but missed because Hiyori ducked sideways. Then Hiyori aimed an uppercut towards Tifa's chin while Tifa aimed another blow to Hiyori's head.

Hiyori's fist connected with Tifa's chin first. But only by a short length for Tifa's hand was only a couple of centimetres away.

"Yay, I win!" shouted Hiyori.

"Not fair! My arm is so shorter than yours. If only it was a bit longer..."

"We can say we had a draw if you want."

"No, no, it's fine. You won fair and square," replied Tifa.

"That's not what you said..."

"Oh look, Mochi and Sai have finished!" Tifa pointed to the two who walked over to them. "Did you win Mochi?"

"No," said Mochi bluntly "do you think I would've against her?" Mochi looked at Saiko.

"Ah, I see."

"Where's Hoshi and Shioru?" asked Hiyori. She scanned the room and found Hoshika and Shioru still fighting. "Ooo, let's see who wins."

Hoshika attacked Shioru most of the time as Shioru dodged. Suddenly she dropped down and grabbed Hoshika's left leg and shoulder and threw her backwards. Unfortunately for Shioru, Hoshika did a flip in the air and landed back on her two feet.

"Heh, your moves aren't working," said Hoshika, a smug grin was plastered onto her face.

"Tch." Shioru dashed in for another attack. This time it was Shioru who took the offensive with Hoshika dodging. Taking an opportunity, Shioru sidestepped and quickly jabbed at Hoshika's hip with an outstretched hand. But the blow never made contact as Hoshika stepped forward, surprising Shioru. Then Hoshika spun around and landed a kick on Shioru's side, sending her skidding across the academy floor. Shioru coughed and dusted herself. The kick didn't deal much damage but the battle was over. She raised her hands and started to say, "Destruc–" Shioru stopped when she felt a cold hand gripping her own. She looked up and found herself looking at an angry Sanada sensei.

"This is a hakuda lesson, not a kidou one. What are you thinking? You could hurt your fellow classmates!" shouted Sanada. Hoshika stepped in to help Shioru; something that was rarely seen for Hoshika was not the type to help anyone.

"I'm sure Shioru was just...not very happy that she'd lost to me," said Hoshika with a smirk. Shioru coughed. Sanada nodded and told the class to gather around him.

"Good work today everyone. We will start on shunpo soon and we'll advance further on using your zanpakutou. Here are some sheets on more kidou spells," Sanada handed them out to each student "Have a look at them, try and remember the incantations and hand movements, but do not, practice them unless you are in here with me. Are we clear?" Sanda glanced at Shioru who bowed, acting as if she would actually listen. "Very well then, class dismissed. Go to your next lesson."

"What do we have next?" asked Hiyori. Shioru checked her timetable.

"Maths."

"With Meruvo-sensei?" asked Tifa.

"Not hiiiiiiiiiiiiim," whined Saiko. "I hate that guy, saying he's all professional at hakuda when he has a pot belly. Seriously, like who would believe him?"

"Whatever, let's go," said Hoshika. She slapped Mochi's arm. "Stop reading."

"Blah blah blah blah! Shut up Hoshi-Hoshi." Mochi continued to read her mysterious book.


	9. Chapter 8

**C**hapter **E**ight

_La la la la~ OHAIYO NIPPON!! La la la la~ OHAIYO NI- __[1]_

"GAH!" said Hiyori as she slammed her hand down onto her alarm clock. "I really need to change my alarm." Grumbling, she got out of bed and quietly climbed down the steps of her bunk to avoid waking Mochi, who slept on the bunk beneath her. However, Mochi had already left the room, as she was nowhere to be seen.

Yawning some more, Hiyori thought about the boring Saturday that stretched out in front of her. Sanada sensei had suggested they all go to the Academy's library to read up some more on kidou and hakuda. _No way am I going to be a nerd__,_ thought Hiyori. _I wish there __were__ something exciting happening today._

Then suddenly an amazing idea came to her. Her face lit up as she couldn't wait to tell the others.

-----------------------------------

"Yes! Best idea I've heard all week!" said Tifa.

"Yeah, whatever, I need to get a new book anyway," Mochi said nonchalantly.

"Hoshi-hoshi, you want to go too, ne?" Hiyori rounded on Hoshika.

Hoshika shrugged.

"Shioru?"

"Don't be stupid, Shioru wouldn't break the rules," Tifa said.

"Actually, I think it's a pretty good idea, I sort of want to go too."

"HA! So it's decided, WE'RE GOING!" Hiyori said, triumphantly.

"Correction, _you _guys are going, I'm not. Who wants to go back to that gay place anyway?" Saiko said

"Shame, and I was thinking about accompanying you to the ramen shop," Hiyori said wistfully.

"Yeah, you know what? I think I'll come with you to that awesome land of ramen," Saiko said, changing her expression from scorn to excitement at the thought of extra, extra spicy ramen.

The real world. That's where the 6 would be heading on their perilous and epic adventure.

-------------------------------

"Now what?"

The 6 Shinigami-to-be stood staring at the looming, ominous gate that was unwilling to budge open.

"Che, the Thirteenth Squad controls the opening and closing of this gate, so unless we want to glare at it for the whole day, let's just give-"

"I, THE AMAZING RAMEN WORSHIPPER AND RULER OF SNAKE LAND, KIRA SAIKO, **DEMAND** THIS GATE TO OPEN NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The (completely powerful) phrase was followed by a series of random flailing and little hops, which soon turned into angry stomps.

"ARE YOU GAY?" Tifa shouted at the gate.

"Sunshine daisy, butter mellow, Turn this stupid fat gate YELLOW![2]" Hiyori exclaimed.

"WHY DO YOU WANT IT TO BE YELLOW, GAYASS??" Saiko shouted.

"Because yellow is pretty!" Hiyori said happily.

"WHO CARES IF YELLOW IS PRETTY????" Saiko got fired up.

"Me!" Hiyori said even happier.

Through the midst of Saiko saying something like yellow was the colour of pee, Mochi suddenly ran forward and said:

"Wait, I have it!" in an intensely dramatic voice

She stepped towards the gate while the other four (Hoshika was still looking on, only mildly interested) gaped in anticipation.

"Open Sesame!"

.

.

.

.

The gate slowly opened, revealing a bright light behind it. The six walked cautiously forward and into the opening. They reached a dark tunnel in which the ceiling was extremely low.[3] After not so long of walking, they reached the end of the tunnel.

Shirou stepped into the light first, whilst the others followed. They had arrived in the middle of a seemingly deserted alley. Slowly, each of them started to walk towards the road at the end of the alley. The sound of motorcars did not reach them as they got closer and Hoshika started to find this strange. When they got to the road, they all simultaneously looked to the right, and suddenly—

"OH MY GOD, RAMEN!"

----------------------------------

"Taichou![4] Please come here for a minute. There's something weird happening with the gate that links to the real world," a short, boyish-like girl called for her captain[5].

"What is it?" Ukitake entered the room.

"Look!" the girl pointed to the small screen with purple vines wrapped around it[6].

Ukitake went closer to the screen to have a better look.

"Ah, this is indeed interesting. Hasn't happened for a while, has it? Well, let's get the rest of the squad. We'll call it a day and enjoy the show shall we?" A smile leaked into Ukitake's previously concerned expression.

"Hai," replied the girl.

---------------------------------------

"Can you look any more like a pig?" Mochi looked disgusted as Saiko crazily slurped up the ramen that rested inside a bowl that looked like it would be stained red from the absurd amount of chilli powder in the soup.

"Eueyemmousse resu tashu[7]!" Saiko attempted to speak through a mouthful of the spicy noodle.

"Please, keep your mouth closed when you eat, it's awfully disturbing to see the contents of your meal swimming around your mouth. It looks like what you'd find at an operation," Hoshika glared.

"Yeah? Well your face looks like that normally, so, considering, the contents in my mouth are a lot more pleasant," Saiko retorted after swallowing the mouthful she had.

"So, what are we going to do next?" Tifa turned away from the horrific scene of Saiko slurping up the soup as if her life depended on it.

"Book hunting," Mochi said immediately.

"Yeah ok, I think I need a book too," Shioru agreed.

"Fine, but then we go to the markets close to where you lived Tifa, I still haven't bought that yellow ribbon to complete my rainbow set yet," Hiyori smiled at the thought.

"How are we going to get there though? I don't even know where this is," Hoshika said reasonably.

"Well…"

The five of them pondered with the not-so-refreshing sound of slurping in the background.

--------------------------

"Did you hear that squad?" Ukitake turned to his team

"Hai!"

"Prepare it at once," Ukitake ordered.

"Hai!"

---------------------------------

*BANG* "AARPPP!"

Saiko had finally finished her eighth helping of the ramen and put down the bowl with a burp.

"Yeah! Ok, let's go book hunting now," Shioru hurriedly spoke before Saiko could order another bowl.

"Wait, wait," Saiko walked up to the counter and spoke with the guy in charge. He nodded and disappeared into the backroom. A few minutes later, he came back with a couple of instant noodle ramen packets.

Hoshika gave a calculating look at the ramen bowls before shrugging and walking out of the store. Saiko gave a glare that could burn houses at Hoshika's back, hugged her noodle bowls tightly and followed her out.

"Oh hey look! It's 'Hon Sekai[8]', the bookshop you always go to Mochi!" Shioru pointed out the building.

"Alright, let's go," Mochi looked hungrily at the building.

-----------------------------

A short man with spiky black hair entered the room.

"Good job Takagi, you may sit," Ukitake said.

----------------------------

"I'll take these," Mochi plonked about 30 books onto the counter.

"No problem, here you go," the woman packed the books into 3 separate bags and handed them to Mochi.

Hoshika gave another calculating look at the woman as she did this but thought nothing of it again.

"Yeah! Now I'm set for another few weeks or so," Mochi looked satisfied as she left the shop.

"So now, your ribbon Hiyori?" Shioru joined them with just one book in her hand.

"Yes, but how do we get there?"

"Oh hey look, isn't that a market just there?" Tifa pointed at a small road that led off from the one they were on.

"OMO! You're right. LETS GO!" Hiyori ran towards the direction of the market.

------------------------

This time a woman entered the room.

"Nicely handled Michiko," Ukitake smiled.

"Hmm, I don't know, I thought one of them seemed to be catching on."

"Well we'll stop this charade soon anyway, no?"

--------------------------

"HEY THEY HAVE THE YELLOW RIBBON I WAS LOOKING FOR!! OMOMOMOMOMOMO!!!" Hiyori jumped up and down for joy.

"Oh, they have the Katsutera too!"

"I like the look of this drum. Do you guys think it suits me?" Tifa pointed to a small drum that seemed light and generally nice.

"Yeah, looks alright," Shioru looked up from the Katsutera.

Hoshika caught sight of a pen that she liked, however, when she picked it up, she raised an eyebrow at the object then immediately put it back down again.

After about thirty minutes of shopping, the five of them, Hoshika started to raise an eyebrow at everything, were laden with shopping bags and ready to go back to the real world. The gate opened and they easily went through. Excitedly talking about their day, they neared the entrance to Soul Society.

"So… had fun?" an unfamiliar voice reached them as they came through the opening.

A tall man with long white hair and a face that didn't seem too menacing looked down at the six of them.

"Shit," Saiko swore.

"But you know, because I'm such a nice guy, I'll let you guys off. Oh, and remember, my name's Ukitake," he winked and walked away.

"What? What was that?" Tifa looked at him go

"Are we in trouble?"

"I don't get it…"

"Che," Hoshika said.

"What are you 'che'-ing at, lameass?" Saiko looked at her.

Hoshika gave a know-it-all smile before walking off in the direction of the Academy.

---------------------------------

On their way back, they passed a building that looked like a hurricane had came and ripped off the roof. Gaping in horror at it, Shioru had asked if Saiko had ate it unconsciously which resulted in Saiko shouting that roofs didn't taste good anyway.

When they got back to the dorms, their path back was surprisingly easy, as they had expected to be confronted by Sanada-sensei, they lay exhausted in the living room. But Hoshika leaned against the wall and smirked down on them.

"Can you stop smirking? You're really annoying, you know," Tifa said.

"Well, I just thought you guys have no stamina at all," Hoshika smirked even more.

"What are you talking about? It's not like you had to carry 30 books," Mochi glared.

"More like half of the roof that was missing," Hoshika said.

"What?"

"Oh, but don't you get it yet? We never _went _to the real world. Didn't our confrontation with Ukitake prove this?"

"But we were there!"

"No, we were in the special place the 13th squad had created to prevent people like us from trying to escape into the real world. I should've noticed earlier, but can't you tell, from the items you have now, they are simply made of spirit particles? And another thing, did you not find it odd how no one charged you for any of the items? They were cleverly disguised but I'm sure those shopkeepers were Shinigami. I could tell from their clothing and choice of words. Che, you guys are just way too ignorant to have noticed any of that."

"But how'd the gate open?"

"Ermm," Mochi started, "Well, there were some weird symbols at the bottom of the gate and I recognised them from a book I had read, and if I converted them, they said: '"Open sesame" is the key to gate'"

"You idiot, did you really think the Thirteenth Squad would display the symbols so openly?" Hoshika said.

"Wait, does that mean, all these items we have now, came from that missing roof?" Saiko caught on.

"Yeah, I guess," Hoshika shrugged.

"Then don't they want it back?" Hiyori asked uncertainly.

No sooner than the words were out of her mouth, there was a knock on the door.

Shioru automatically got up to get it.

"Hello, we've come to collect the missing pieces of the roof, do you mind lending me those plastic bags?" a man who failed at the innocent act asked.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The next twenty minutes were filled with the struggling of everyone but Hoshika to keep their 'purchased' items from the scary man.

But at the end, everything was taken away. As he left the room, Saiko looked on in despair and shouted:

"MY DEAR RAMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

---------------------------

Lying awake in bed, Hiyori said to Mochi,

"The real world was fun, let's go again!"

"We weren't _in_ the real world," Mochi said. "Bakari."

* * *

**A/N**s

Hey hey hey!! It's GeNoWaFeR again! Betcha all missed me muchlies :D here are my little footnotes:

[1]That was my wake-up call at one of my hotels in Japan. It was crazy. It was literally LA LA LA LA OHAIYO NIPPON! And really computerised

[2]Yes, full credits to Harry Potter for this. Sorry for using it, but it was stuck in my head when I was writing this chapter.

[3]Remember, this is the fake world the 13th Squad have created. So unlike the REAL tunnel to the real world which has high ceilings and you have to RUN to get to the other side, it's completely different.

[4]Japanese for captain

[5]She's one of the lieutenants. I've forgotten her name so I just used a description.

[6]This is supposed to resemble that TV Toushirou used at Orihime's house to contact the 1st squad captain (you know, the almightly old man? What's his name again?) (: Yamamoto. Che, ignorant much?)

[7] For those weird people that like to know everything, Saiko was saying "I miss this taste" , just very distorted.

[8]Hon Sekai in English literally means "Book world". Please forgive my lack of creativity.

Oh and in case you're wondering who those random people were that entered Ukitake's room. The first one was the ramen shop 'owner' and the second was the lady at the bookstore. Obviously they were only there under Ukitake's orders and their names and their characters are a completely one off thing. They are NOT important to the plotline. Oh and the bit where Ukitake asked his squad if they had "heard" what was said and for them to go prepare it, was just them to set up the stores and stuff in the fake world.

Yes, this chapter was a filler. We thought it was about time you readers needed one. Not to mention a perfect chance for character development. WE KNOW YOU LOVE FILLERS MORE THAN THE ACTUAL STORYLINE :D


	10. Chapter 9

Hey guys! Guess what?! It's back to me again!! :D Moshimellow appears again! Anyhooes, enough of that, its time to start the fic!

-:-

The sky was lit a lovely purple-orange by with the setting sun when the six students finally left the academy and began to walk along the banks of the river. Fluffy, white clouds were scattered across the otherwise clear sky and the breeze that blew from the riverside was cool and refreshing.

"OMO! That was so hard!" exclaimed Hiyori, disturbing the peaceful setting. She poked warily at some sore places on her body. "Mochiii... the punches you gave me are going to bruise... I didn't hit you that hard..." she whined.

"It's not my fault you're so crap at sparring. Don't whine. It's annoying and you sound like a drunken sheep," replied Mochi, without looking up from her book. Saiko and Tifa grinned evilly and bounced around Hiyori going "Baaaa, baaaaa!!!" as the rest looked at the beautiful scenery contentedly.

"It wasn't that hard," pondered Shioru as she looked amusedly at the two fools who were still teasing Hiyori. Saiko stopped bouncing for a second. "I'm so awesome at it! Did you see that hit I landed on Bakawaka? Dude! It like totally pwned her!" she babbled while demonstrating by waving her arms around spastically and aiming flailing blows at some unseen opponent who probably looked like Hoshika.

"Che. Don't forget, it was the only hit you ever landed on me. In case you can't remember, you lost all the matches _except _for that one. And the only reason I lost was because you pointed to some random spot and said, "LOOK THERE'S A FLYING COW-HAMBURGER!" scowled Wakanao as she kicked a random rock into the river.

"It was your own damn fault for believing me! I mean, I pointed to the freaking ceiling, you freak!" replied Saiko in her scrambled language, and once again another fight broke out between the two. Ignored by the rest of the group, they fought, with Saiko trying to drag Hoshika into the water against fierce resistance.

They walked for a short while alongside the riverbank before reaching a split in the path where one path continued along the banks of the river, and the other headed away, over a pretty, but nondescript field full of flowers and long grass.

"Which way should we go?" Shioru asked the others.

"I don't know. Where does the right hand side one go?" asked Hiyori.

"Bakari. Don't you even know the way back home? If you keep walking along that road for about 3 minutes you'll reach our house," sighed Mochi as she finally looked up from her book.

"I don't want to go home yet though. Let's see what's on the other road!" suggested Tifa as she began to march on energetically down the other path with the still-fighting Wakanao and Saiko trailing behind. Shioru looked at Hiyori and Mochi resignedly, then shrugged and followed Tifa.

"Well we might as well go since the rest of them are gone already. I guess we'll eat out tonight then," before muttering quietly to herself, "I hope there are kasutera stores on this road."

Mochi sighed then stretched out lazily, the hand holding her book reaching towards the sky. "Might as well, although I would much rather spend the afternoon doing..." she trailed off and she went to join the others. Hiyori smiled happily when she remembered that she'd wanted to go see what cute accessories she could buy here in Soul Society anyway and skipped happily behind them.

-:-

"That ramen shop was pure epic and untainted _win_!!" Saiko flailed as she toted bags full of bowls of takeaway ramen. Everyone else nodded in silent agreement, their appetites for good, asian msg-filled food sated. The ramen shop not only had ramen but a range of other favourite foods including kasutera (Shioru's), tempura soba (Mochi's) and lots of other delicious dishes. They were all stuffed to the maximum and on top of that, were also very happy with their purchases.

"I love that accessories shop!" cried Tifa and Hiyori simultaneously. They waved their little flowery bags stuffed full of jewellery and soft toys around. Their obsession with cute things was so insane and intense that even Mochi and Saiko were dragged in with the rest and were forced to buy at least one, supposedly, "kawaii" item.

Saiko, when hearing this command to buy, immediately snagged a soft toy snake she saw hanging from a hook; Shioru a teddy bear, Hoshika a fancy new ribbon but Mochi just ignored their feeble pleas for her to choose something, _anything_, and continued to read her book. Feeling desperate, Hiyori quickly grabbed the closest item and stuffed it in Mochi's hands. "Here you go! Now buy that!!" she nagged, steering her to the counter where she paid and went back to reading her book.

"I still can't believe they actually had such a busy little market area here," said Shioru. Hoshika nodded happily. "Now that I know it's here, I'm going to come all the time! The ribbons are so pretty," she prattled on, seeming completely out of character.

"No way dude! My snake so pwns your ugly, ugly ribbon of complete and utter faildom. I mean, your ribbon sucks!" taunted Saiko. Mochi looked up from her book again to roll her eyes. _Another argument. _Then she vaguely remembered Hiyori forcing her to buy something and she peered cautiously inside her own little flowery bag. Inside was a chain necklace with spiky lotuses at the end that may or may not have looked strangely dangerous in the moon's white light.

_Tch. How gay. _She made a mental note to lose it as soon as possible; the moment Hiyori's back was turned. Looking scornfully at the little flowery bag, she stuffed it in the bin and pocketed the necklace. _Can't let it go to waste._

"What are you doing Kanda?!" shouted Hoshika. Mochi looked up and finally noticed that the others were already waiting at the split in the paths for her. "Tch. Coming."

-:-

After their shopping trip and the day's classes, they all felt dead tired and flopped onto their beds the moment they got home. There was a rare silence inside the small building. Saiko and Hoshika stopped fighting to fall asleep in their room and Shioru and Tifa had already passed out on their beds. Hiyori, however, was happily arranging the day's spoils on her side of the room.

"Mochi!! Do you mind if I put this on your side?" chattered Hiyori. She held out a fluffy pink cushion and a couple of soft toy bunnies. There was a silence. Hiyori waited for a second before putting them back on her side, sighing and curling up into her bed. Mochi was already fast asleep on her bed, not even bothering to change out of her uniform.

Mochi turned over in her sleep and the necklace jingled merrily in her pocket.

-:-

It was so dark. That was the first thought that registered in Kanda Mochi's sleep befuddled brain as she slowly regained control of her body and opened her eyes drowsily. Instead of the starry sky she usually saw through her skylight when she awoke every morning to train, there was total darkness. Nothing.

Her alertness shot up and peaked again. _Where am I? Did someone take me away while I was sleeping? More importantly, where are the rest of the fools?_ Mochi closed her eyes and breathed silently, listening for any sounds or disturbances of the air.

Soft footsteps sounded in front of her, gradually getting closer. _Someone's here. _Her hand shot instinctively towards the sword by her side, courtesy of Sanada-sensei.

"You don't need to do that. I won't hurt you," Mochi's eyes widened as she recognised the softly spoken Japanese. Suddenly the darkness of the sky was dotted with stars; their cold light illuminated the beautiful face of the raven-haired samurai who stood before Mochi. He was the most beautiful guy she had ever seen. (5)

His face; elegant cold beauty with dark sapphire eyes, had a sort of royal grace to it although it was a tad bit girly. His blue-black hair tumbled down his back in long silky tresses. A chain with an unknown symbol on it hung on his neck, and from her first glimpse of it, Mochi loathed it. Even though Mochi could feel no wind, she could swear that the pure white kimono he was wearing was swaying, as though a breeze was blowing. Mochi had a feeling that she had seen him before, somewhere... but she pushed that nagging thought away.

Upon seeing the shocked look on her face, his face morphed from the cold expression he had into a smirk. Regaining her composure and feeling slightly annoyed by his smirk, she flash stepped behind him and immediately had her sword to his neck.

"Who the hell are you?" she asked. Showing absolutely no concern or shock at the sharp katana, he replied in a voice of pure silver. "Your zanpakutou's real form."

_My Zanpakutou?_

"Nani?" Mochi re-sheathed her sword, but did not take her hand from its hilt.

The samurai smirked again and ran his fingers through his long silky hair.

"I am the true form of your Zanpakutou," he repeated. Mochi's eyes were drawn to the empty Zanpakutou by her side. She vaguely recalled a lesson when Sanada-sensei had been saying something about how the Zanpakutous they were given were empty and something about a true form.

"So... you live in here?" Mochi gestured to sword that was still in her hand. The samurai looked blankly at the sword before realization finally dawned on his face. He buckled up and made weird coughing sounds. After a few seconds of listening to those weird "haah haahk haah" sounds, she realised he was laughing at her. "What are you laughing at? It's true right?"

Mochi waited impatiently for the samurai to recover from his fit. He straightened up and spoke, "Well. I technically don't "live" inside the Zanpakutou, its more like I reside inside your soul and when you release reiatsu into one; I'm transferred into the vessel of the Zanpakutou (1)."

He looked expectantly at Mochi. "Oh..." she replied distantly, looking off into the darkness. Remembering that she was lost in the middle of nowhere she looked up sharply and asked again. "Where am I? Why am I here? " _And where are the others?_ She thought silently to herself.

As if he could read her mind, he answered her unspoken question first. "You don't need to worry about your friends. They're all safe and sound at home and they won't notice you gone anyways."

Seeing Mochi about to say something, he continued quickly. "You are in your own consciousness. Inside your own mind or what some call your 'world'. To make things simple, it's a dream. But a dream where the host is awake and can control."

Even though it was just a stupid childish thing, Mochi pinched herself hard just to see if she'd awake from her dream. "Tch." Ignoring the aching pain on her arm, she looked up expectantly at the samurai again. "You haven't answered the other question," she said.

He was suppressing another laughing fit from seeing her childish action but was reminded by her command. "Ahem." Straightening himself up, Mochi realised he was taller than her and was not quite as womanly as she had thought.

"Let's get to business now. I have recognised your potential future as a shinigami, and as your Zanpakutou, I will give you the great honour of being trained by me," he continued.

Hearing the word 'training', Mochi's face twitched as she realised just who she was talking to. _Oh yeah, that bastard. _"Speaking of training, WHAT THE FUCK WAS WITH THOSE ANNOYING MORNING TRAININGS?!!? IF YOU ARE PART OF MY SOUL, WHY THE HELL DO YOU KEEP TALKING TO ME IN MY HEAD?! I WAS HALF CONVINCED THAT I WAS GOING MAD!" Mochi stopped to breathe after her outburst.

The samurai smirked again, not showing any surprise about her rant. "Well, don't you agree with me that those trainings have helped you with your skills? Especially with improving your shunpo skills. And not to mention, I think you would rather be woken up by my voice rather than your friend's 'Ohayo Nippon' alarm clock?"

_Oh yeah, that alarm clock__,_Mochi thought bitterly. She still had bad memories of that time when Hiyori forgot to set her alarm and it went off too early, waking Mochi up. She started grudgingly, "Well I can't argue with you on that, Bakari always talks in her sleep, but what kind of _new _training will I be doing?" she asked.

The samurai smirked again and waved his arm. Gradually as Mochi watched in wonder, lights began to dot what seemed to a never-ending lake. The ghostly glow emanated from within pale lotuses as they floated on the smooth, calm water.

"You must use only your skills of Shunpo and raw Zanpakutou skills to find me within one of those lotuses. If you fail at this and give up, just pretend we never met. I don't want my skills to fall on unworthy hands," he said.

Smirking again he added before turning to walk away. "I will be in the form of your Zanpakutou of course. Ganbatte." Mochi panicked slightly with his departure, she was all alone in this "dream world" and had no idea how to get out. She wanted to call out for him but realised in dismay that she didn't even know what his name was. Reaching out, she tugged lightly on his sleeve. Looking around, he smirked in amusement. "Yes?"

Mochi's eyebrow twitched at this. _Teme _(2)_.... _But she kept her temper under control and spat out another question at his turned back. "What do I call you?"

At this question, he smiled genuinely, but with a mysteriously amused air. Mochi wondered what was so funny but she kept silent as she waited for his reply. "My name is Kanda Yuu. You can call me Kanda but I think that would confuse you so Yuu will be good enough for me."

At this, Mochi was too stunned to remember that she was still annoyed at her. She pieced pieces of the puzzle together; his blue-black hair which was like hers, his eyes which were the same as hers, the familiar face and now the same last name....

"Are we freaking related?" blurted out Mochi at the same time as Kanda Yuu said softly, "And no we are not related." There was a silence. Mochi stared in confusion at the samurai. He looked up again with a piercing gaze. "I am part of your soul. But that has nothing to do with whether I have the same last name as you, look related to you or not. It was just meant to be." Mochi's eyebrow twitched again. _Yeah yeah. The faster I can have this done by, the faster I'll be able to get out of this creepy place. _She shivered unconsciously before drawing her sword out. _En guarde _(3)_, lotuses._

-:-

Mochi panted as she cleaved through the 50th lotus in the row, counting. By now, her reiatsu was running low and she hadn't seen a mere glimpse of a sword, let alone her annoying Zanpakutou. _Talking about that guy…_Mochi looked around. The surroundings were all dark and motionless, the water still as ice.

"If that guy was just joking about all this… I'll beat the crap out of him," muttered Mochi as she flash stepped lightly across the water. The hair on Mochi's neck rose as she heard a low chuckle. She spun around. Silence. Mochi's temper suddenly flared, bringing her reiatsu up with it.

She flashed to the next 5 lotuses, slashing them through with ease. Upon reaching a particularly large one, she brought her blade up and slashed with all her strength. As Mochi swung the blade, words she had never come across in her whole life flashed in her mind. "Soragen, Hatsudo! (4)" she shouted.

Bright yellow flickers of pure electricity crackled around the sword in Mochi's hand. The moment the words left her mouth, almost like a command, the Zanpakutou transformed in her hands.

Its new shape settled as a long white katana without a cross guard and engraved with a strange pattern. The blade clashed with the lotus, sparks flying into the air. In astonishment, Mochi realised that the sword was a lot lighter in her hand, and the ease with which she flooded it with her reiatsu. There was a crack in the lotus, letting a brilliant light stream out and explode in her eyes.

The world in Mochi's eyes turned black and white simultaneously as though someone flicked a switch. As quick as it happened, colour started to flood Mochi's vision and soon the scenery before her turned beautifully into something that would belong in an art museum or perhaps, the private gallery of a man obsessed with perfection and beauty.

She was standing on a lotus pad in the middle of the lake, beside a Japanese Zen Garden. Sakura blossomed beautifully on the graceful trees, manicured lawns sprawled next to pebbled footpaths. There was a small Japanese style gazebo not far from Mochi in which Kanda Yuu sat looking at her with an amused smirk on his face.

In her hurry to get to the goddamn bastard, Mochi tripped slightly on the remains of the cracked lotus and fell forwards towards the clear, sparkling surface of the lake. Expecting the cold embrace of the water, Mochi closed her eyes and waited for the bitter coldness to hit and envelop her body.

.

.

.

Nothing. Except for a strange floating sensation. It was almost like she was in water, except she wasn't getting wet. Mochi opened her eyes cautiously. Standing up, she soon realised that even though the depth of the lake was unclear, it was only shallow. The stuff that swirled around her legs felt like water but it was the different substance, almost like a thick smoke. Something clicked in Mochi's mind and her jaw clenched as she unsheathed her Zanpakutou. _He's going to die for this._

"WHY THE HELL DID YOU TELL ME TO SHUNPO TO EACH GODAMN LOTUS PAD IF I DON'T EVEN GET WET IN THE WATER?!" yelled Mochi. She sped towards him and slashed with her new sharp weapon. To her horror (7), he didn't move aside and just stared towards her as her sword came down. His eyes didn't even twitch as the blade swung dangerously close.

With a crack, the blade struck his chain, splitting the strange symbol in half. The remains of the chain fell to the stone ground with a resounding clatter. There was a silence. Kanda Yuu slowly moved from his statue-like position and stared at the broken necklace at his feet. Mochi's feelings went from anger, shock, horror and then to apologetic.

"Uhh. Gomenesai... (8)" she said faltering, looking away guiltily. There was still a silence.

Sudden laughter from the samurai startled Mochi and she looked up in confusion. He laughed and laughed and laughed for about 5 minutes before looking up with a grin.

"Arigatou. I've been meaning to get rid of that," he said, recomposing himself. He picked up the remains of the necklace and threw it quickly into the lake. "That's one bad memory taken care of," he muttered quietly to himself. Turning around to look at Mochi, he smirked at her guilty expression. "Don't worry too much about it. It wasn't very valuable to me anyways."

Feeling slightly annoyed again, Mochi looked away and scowled. "I just don't like being in debt with other people. If you were meaning to get rid of it, why didn't you just take it off earlier? Instead of waiting for me to break it so crudely."

Kanda Yuu's expression turned dreamlike as though he was faraway in his own world. "I couldn't have. It's impossible..." he murmured in a sad voice. Feeling awkward, Mochi looked away and stuck her hands in her pockets to feel something sharp and pointing sticking in her hand. "Ouch!"

Kanda jerked out of his daydream. "What happened?" he asked, somewhat sadistically. Mochi yanked her hand out of her pocket quickly and examined it. There was a huge puncture with blood dripping out. "Damn I don't have a bandage with me," cursed Mochi. She was about to stop the blood with her sleeve when Kanda's slender fingers circled her wrist.

Quickly but skilfully, he wrapped a long white ribbon around and around, securing it with a tight bow. "You'd better give this back to me. I need it to tie my hair with."

"Thanks..." muttered Mochi as she snatched her hand back. _So damn awkward man._

Gingerly, Mochi slid her hand in her pocket and felt the cold chain of the thing that wounded her. She pulled it out cautiously. Strangely it was rather light in her hand but heavy in her pocket, even though she didn't notice it beforehand. A chain with familiar looking metal lotuses emerged from within.

.

.

.

Hiyori. _She's going to get hell from me tomorrow morning..._ The bloodstained spike on the one of the lotuses shone innocently in the sunlight. Mochi rubbed her eyes in mystification. Was it just her, or could the locket be somehow bigger than before? Looking up, she realised the samurai was still looking at her questioningly.

"It was a necklace my friend gave me, even though I don't wear jewellery," stated Mochi as she held it out for him to see. Kanda Yuu looked at the lotuses in a strange sort of way.

"Your friend has a strange taste in necklaces. This is actually a weapon," he said, his smile turning into a slight smirk. He took it from Mochi's hands and swung it around dangerously.

"Stop that. It might hit something." Mochi said. She took it from him and paused for a second. "On another note, I think I might give this to you since I have no need for it and I broke your...necklace." She reached up and slipped the necklace on samurai's neck. It settled on his chest with a satisfying jingle. "There. In fact it sort of suits you more than the other one you had," she said in approval. Kanda's expression turned unfathomable and a little weird.

Mochi cringed at her little action. _Crap. That was way too intimate._ She backed away, feeling somewhat awkward. "Well I sort of need to go and I really want some sleep so could you send me out of this place?" she asked, trying to look anywhere but his face.

"I guess I should let you go now, since you now have your zanpakutou. Just to let you know, just call me by Soragen or my name and I'll come. I'll let you go for today's training because you need some rest but we'll continue tomorrow."

Mochi looked up again saw his sad expression as he looked at her. "Sayonara, (9)" he murmured. Then everything went black.

-:-

Kanda Mochi stirred slightly in her sleep. She faintly heard Hiyori above her muttering something about surds before she rolled over and fell into a deep sleep. Beside her, Soragen shimmered slightly before changing back into its unreleased form with one small difference. Bound around its hilt was a chain with two pointed lotuses. Mochi rolled over again and knocked her Zanpakutou, making it fall to the ground with a clatter. However, that revealed something on the chain that had been when it was still lying on the bed.

One of the lotus' points was stained brown with drying blood.

* * *

A/N:

(1) I'm pretty sure it doesn't only apply to empty vessels because in Bleach, Ichigo's reiatsu was transferred into Rukia's Zanpakutou. However, it was only a temporary and very weak weapon and he had to find his own Zanpakutou in his world before he had a proper one.

(2) It basically means "You bastard".

(3) French for "On guard". Usually said before a fight. Sort of like "Beware" or "Watch out". I stole/borrowed this from Ouran. xD

(4) [空幻- Soragen] this is the name of Kanda Mochi's Zanpakutou. It can be translated into Japanese as empty illusion. Hatsudo means invocate. Not all Zanpakutous require this command to "activate". This is just my little joke and mention of DGray Man. Also, in case anyone was interested, the sword is a cross between Sasuke's chidori sword (Naruto) and Kanda Yuu's Mugen (DGray Man).

(5) Here is a reference picture of what I based Mochi's first impression of Kanda. In case noone realised, I borrowed him from Hoshino Katsura's manga/anime, DGray Man. But of course he belongs solely to her and her only. .com/albums/cc36/mishelle1990/yuukanda_

(6) A gazebo is a structure, as an open or latticework pavilion or summerhouse, built on a site that provides an attractive view of a garden etc. In this case I'm making it on a little deck so it looks like its floating in the pond. My reference picture is sort of what I mean by that.

.com/files/images/japanese_garden_.jpg

(7) Kanda Mochi only likes fighting fair matches and only threatens people with her sword when she's pissed off, not harm. (She's not that mean =.=;;) Because Kanda Yuu seemed to be such a good fighter, she expected him to fight back but his not moving made her scared that she would actually hurt him.

(8) Sorry in Japanese.

(9) Goodbye or Farewell in Japanese.


	11. Chapter 10

..So… Before I start, let me remind you that I am MENTALLY INCAPABLE OF CONSTRUCTING A SOUND PLOT. So thank you, goodbye, and I don't own anything that may pertain to the official plot and such of Bleach. Oh, and have an ambulance on standby in case your brain implodes whilst you are reading.

* * *

_Crack! Thump!_

"What?" A muffled query could be heard from under Hoshika's thin cotton blanket, bunched up over where she lay on her bunk below Saiko. Or rather, where Saiko _should_ have been.

Instead, Saiko lay on the floor, half-under, half-on top of her own doona, her figure only barely discernible in the weak dawn light. She opened her eyes, slowly, one at a time, and after at least a minute of lying there looking at the ceiling, turned her head to look at Hoshika.

" I think I fell out of my bunk."

_Yes Saiko, I think I can see that quite clearly. Am I supposed to be awed by your amazing observation skills?_

"I had a nightmare though.. Something about freaky ass hollows running around and… you know… going all Godzilla-y on Soul Society, smashing stuff up and screaming incoherent things at people."

_What the hell is she talking about? Then again, this is __**Kira**__we're talking about here. She must have had too much ramen last night._

Hoshika flinched when Saiko's eyes snapped wide open all of a sudden.

"What's wrong with you kid?" Hoshika lifted her head out of the mess that was her bed to look at Saiko properly, "Seriously, you're practically shaking. What's up with you?"

Saiko sat up and stared at her for a while, then began to babble and wave her arms around, "It was the dream dude, the freaking dream. I dreamt we were all in class just doing boring shit, like that time Sanada made us meditate to try and find our true self, and then it was like BAM! And everyone except us was dead and lying on the ground and there was this huge, freaking _super hollow_ just standing over Sanada sensei, about to eat him, and we all freaked out and ran at it with our swords out, ready to skewer the damn thing, and then it turned around and swiped at us and then I woke up," Saiko finished her narrative abruptly, shook her head as if to clear those thoughts out and looked back up at Hoshika from the floor, "That didn't make any sense at all, did it?"

Hoshika blinked once, then twice, then stared at Saiko for all of a good two minutes before speaking, slowly, much like the way one would speak to a five year old who thinks they've just seen a flying unicorn spewing rainbows in the sky.

"Kira. You just predicted the imminent deaths of all our classmates, excluding us and the four other dimwits I am forced to share my existence with _and_ Sanada? And they were killed by a "huge freaking super hollow"? I have to say, your IQ has obviously reached an all time low, and to answer your question, no. That didn't make any sense at all," she paused, and mentally went over the contents of Saiko's dream. Suddenly, just when Saiko was starting to think she'd slipped into another of her intense thinking trances, Hoshika's head snapped up and her eyes found Saiko's.

"You said "huge freaking super hollow", right?"

Saiko nodded dumbly, with no idea of what Hoshika was getting at.

"Well what did it look like?"

"I don't know... It was big, and black, and the mask looked funny... Oh god, the mask!" her jerked up and her whole body became more rigid, "There were three masks. All lined up on the front of its body. I remember, 'cause when it turned around, all three of them looked straight at us, and one of the masks just sort of grinned all creepy at us and the others screeched and howled like the fucking harpies in hell," she paused and breathed out heavily, "I have no idea how I forgot to mention that, but there you go."

She nodded and waited for a response, but Hoshika stayed silent, staring at Saiko like she was crazy. Finally, she spoke, "You wouldn't happen to have been listening in on any senior officers' conversations, have you?" she directed a questioning glance at the girl.

Saiko raised her eyebrows, "Dude. No. Why the hell would I do that?"

"Oh, I don't know, because everyone knows you're a delinquent and because," Hoshika paused and looked straight at Saiko's eyes, looking for a trace of a lie, "There would otherwise have been no way that you could have known about the hyper-charged(1) hollows the divisions have been talking about."

There was a silence in which two things happened.

Saiko's face adopted a distinct what-the-hell-are-you-on-about look, confronting Hoshika's oh-yes-I-know-you-were-listening-in-on-them-talking face. The other thing that happened was—

"Hoshi-hoshiii! Are you awake?! You too, Saiko! Wake up!" Hiyori burst through their door, closely followed by Tifa.

They skidded to a stop and looked at Saiko who was, still, sitting on the floor, half covered by her doona.

"Why are you on the floor?" Tifa stepped closer and peered at Saiko critically, like an art critic trying to figure out what the hell the artist had intended to convey with their "masterpiece".

Saiko shot her a disparaging look and stood up slowly, slinging her blanket over her shoulder, still watching Hiyori and Tifa as they took a step back. She grabbed her bunk and pulled herself up to her bed where she promptly fell asleep.

"Well. That was weird," Hoshika looked at Hiyori and Tifa, as they began to slowly edge away. "And don't you dare try to run away and pretend this never happened."

She looked out the window, "Anyway, what time is it really?"

Tifa gave her a look that may have been tinged with a little, tiny bit of disbelief, "Dude, what _were_ you doing? It's like, seven, as it should have been made obvious by Hiyori's stupid alarm clock ringing half a hour ago, and we should all be out at the table, eating breakfast so we're not late," she looked out the window, " again."

Tifa stood there for a while, Hiyori looking a little bit offended at the cruel remark about her alarm clock, then they turned and left. Hoshika sighed and rolled out of bed, shoving the bunk above as she stood up, waking Saiko up roughly.

"Whaaa, was that you Bakawaka?" She pulled her self to the edge of her bunk and looked down at Hoshika, her eyes half closed and hair messed up badly, even though she'd only been back in bed for a few minutes.

"Yes, Kira, it was I. And you need to be out of bed, at the table _now_, unless you want to be late again." Hoshika turned and began to walk away.

_Whumpf!_

"Oi!"

"Yeah yeah, you so deserved that anyway," Saiko jumped down and walked past Hoshika, where she lay on the floor, trapped by the girl's doona. No one else would have seen it, but she was smiling. Ear to ear, I swear.

--

Of course, like they always did, they left just in time to get to class a minute or so before Sanada walked into the classroom and spent most of the lesson dozing off, or starting fixatedly at that spot on the wall just above Sanada's head. That is, until he announced that they would actually be _moving_ their limbs, and then they would all jump up, eager to do _something_ that wasn't sitting there and listening to an old man talk about reiatsu.

Though unfortunately, this was not exactly how their day turned out. Yes, they did arrive at the usual time just before Sanada arrived, yes, they did doze off, and yes, they did jump up eagerly when he spoke of putting into practice what they had supposedly learnt that lesson. But what everyone noticed, what made the classroom seem empty, was that Saiko and Hoshika were fighting less. Significantly less. As in, the maintenance crew _actually_ had the time to fix things that weren't located in or around Sanada's classroom.

And, having gotten used to always hearing Saiko and Hoshika fighting in the background, everyone was feeling ever so slightly awkward.

"Hey, Shioru, what do you think's wrong with Saiko and Hoshi-Hoshi?" Hiyori leant over to whisper in Shioru's ear.

At a questioning glance from Shioru, she elaborated, her voice raised just enough that most students in the immediate could hear, "Well, they're not fighting anymore, and neither of them have really insulted each other properly yet, or broken something, or even gotten shouted at by Sanada-sensei," she stopped talking and just watched the two girls for a while. Saiko seemed strangely subdued, sitting there, slumped at her desk, seemingly watching Sanada with only one eye open, and Hoshika was just sitting next to her, not even making a cruel remark about how Saiko looked like a total stoner.

Shioru followed her line of vision and nodded, "I can see what you mean... Maybe they're just tired after last night, I mean, we did stay out pretty late."

Tifa joined in, having eavesdropped for a while, "Nah, I think there's seriously something wrong with them. No one looks that stoned after a late night out unless they really _have_ been taking drugs."

"No, Hoshika wouldn't ever take drugs, she thinks she's too good for them, and Saiko wouldn't either, even if she is a bit psycho sometimes," Shioru rejoined, shaking her head.

"Well either way, we're going to have to do _something_ about it soon, don't you think?" Hiyori looked at them worriedly.

"Yeah, I think so too, because if this keeps up, there'll be nothing to distract Sanada from telling me off for reading in class," Mochi butted into their conversation suddenly. Having said what she needed to, Mochi left immediately and walked back to her seat, reading all the way.

Tifa looked at the others, "So should we ask them what's up tonight? When we get home?"

Shioru opened her mouth to reply, probably in the affirmative, "Ok, tonight, after--"

"That may be a good idea, girls. And it'd be even better, for me and the rest of your classmates, if you could stop discussing how to assume the role of family counsellor, and actually listen to what I am speaking about," Sanada looked down at them severely, "Yes? No? Or do you have something else that you would like to discuss in total confidentiality with your friends here?"

At this a snicker went around the classroom, as most of those sitting in the immediate area around the three girls had over heard some, if not all of their conversation.

Tifa, however, did not recognise the obvious sarcasm in Sanada's voice and opened her mouth to say something, "Actually, sensei, I would—"

"Oh, for the love of all that is good and _intelligent_, that was a joke! A jest! A false suggestion with a sliver of sarcasm hidden deep within its gullet," a tone of exasperation found its way into Sanada's voice, "I didn't mean to say that you could continue your little discussion, so just clam up, and listen, please!" Having finished his tirade, he turned sharply and marched back up to the front of the classroom and continued his lecture in that boring and oh so monotonous voice. Every student who _had_ been laughing, stopped laughing, and soon, there was no one left sitting up, only teenagers in red and white uniforms, mostly sprawled over their desk, with a few struggling to appear as if they were actually listening.

"And so, when you do end up transferring your reiatsu into your empty vessels, which I can see some of you, being over eager, have brought in to class today, you will be able to release it into its shikai form, or initial release..."

--

"Geez, Sanada was being really lame today, wasn't he, Tifa?" Hiyori nudged her as they walked along the path home.

Normally, Saiko and Hoshika would have been trailing behind the others, fighting about whatever miniscule dispute that had occurred that day, but everyone could tell, this was not a normal day. Instead of fighting loudly, Saiko was walking stiffly up front, and Hoshika seemed to just walk _normally_, in the middle of the group, with everyone else, though she said almost nothing to them.

"Yeah, he was, seriously, what was up with him? It's like everyone's acting weird today, eh?" Tifa kicked a pebble lying on the road and sent it skittering down the slope towards the river.

"Well, I guess you guys don't want to go check out that little market again?" Shioru looked at them hopefully.

"Yeah, I would, but you know, we've got to find out what's up with them," Hiyori lowered her voice so that neither Saiko nor Hoshika could hear.

"You'd better, because I want to be able to read my book in class without getting in trouble," Mochi looked up from her book and glared at them.

They turned off to the right and continued through the field of grass and weed flowers, walking home to confront whatever bullshit had taken over the two who were normally the noisiest in the group, but now were almost completely silent.

--

"Hey," Shioru dragged a chair over to the table where everyone, sans Saiko and Hoshika, were sitting, "Should we ask them now?"

Hiyori shook her head, "I thought about it for a while, and I thought that maybe we should wait a while and see if they get over it."

"Nah, we have to, tonight, because this is seriously getting weird, and—"

"And it's stupid that the two loudest people in our group are being _quiet_," Mochi interrupted Tifa. The others looked at her, startled, if not confused, at the fact that they had heard, just then, a tiny bit of what may have been _concern_ in Mochi's voice, "And no, I don't actually care about whatever's wrong with them, but I do care about the fact that I can no longer read my book in peace, and you all keep on babbling about how you're going to help, them, so let's get on with it!" Mochi snapped her book shut and shoved it in some hidden pocket.

They all looked at her, still trying to figure out _why_ she had suddenly decided to help them. Then Shioru spoke, "So does anyone have ideas?"

Her question was greeted with silence.

That is, until Hiyori decided to break the silence. "We could always just ask them,".

The whole group just turned and looked straight at her incredulously. Then they all began to speak at the same time.(2)

"Tch, like that's going to work, Bakari."

"And dude, Hoshi would never just spill something like that just 'cause we wanted to know."

"I don't think so, because A, Hoshika's a smug little bitch who has a superiority complex, and B, if they're in it together, Saiko would probably eat her alive if she did."

Hiyori reeled back, feigning extreme offense, laughing. The others laughed too, but it was only temporary as Hiyori sat back up straight, "But seriously, it's not like there's anything else we can do."

"Well I can't think of anything else..." Shioru trailed off.

"Ok then! Let's do it!" Tifa got up and marched off to barge into Saiko and Hoshika's room to demand an explanation, with Hiyori marching right behind her, Shioru walking like a _normal, sane human being_, and Mochi trailing at the back.

As they approached the door, Tifa stopped, and put her ear to the door.

"I still think we should tell them _something_, because you saw them going all conspiratorial in class. They might start thinking you're going _emo_ and that you're gonna take me down with you!" Saiko's muffled voice could be heard through the door, even without them pressing ears to it.

"No way, if we tell them, they're going to go crazy and someone might tell Sanada or something, and he'll think we've been eavesdropping!"

"But if we don't, they're probably launch some rescue plan," Tifa heard a slight shuffling noise, "And then it'll just be a huge heap of wtf-ery in one place, all for—"

"Whaaa!" Tifa fell into the room, followed by Hiyori and Shioru, leaving Mochi standing just outside their door, looking straight at Hoshika with her hand on the doorknob and a smirk on her face.

"And to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you lot dead on my floor," Hoshika nudged Hiyori's head with her foot, "Eh, Rii-tard? Tifa?"

Shioru got up and dusted herself off, "Well, we were just wondering if—"

"If you and Saiko are going emo, and that's why you haven't been fighting in class?" Tifa jumped up and interrupted Shioru, saving her from having to make up a completely obvious lie.

Hoshika raised her eyebrows and looked first from Tifa to Hiyori, still on the ground, then to Shioru, finally resting on Mochi.

"Since you're probably the most likely to come up with a decent, answer, Mochi, would you like to explain what the hell is going on?"

She shrugged, "They," she nodded at Tifa, Hiyori and Shioru, "Seem to believe that you and Saiko are keeping some strange secret, or may be emo, or even possibly may be possessed. And they want to get to the bottom of it. And so do I, merely so that I may read my book in the peace once again. So spill it." She switched her gaze from Hoshika's slightly irritated face to Saiko, standing as she was on the ladder that was hardly ever actually used to get up to the top bunk.

Saiko jerked her head back, "Hey, I don't know anything, serious!"

"Yes you do," Mochi stared at her levelly.

She screwed up her face, "And how do you know that? Because you've been _eavesdropping_?" she scoffed, "the _almighty_, Kanda Mochi, was _eavesdropping_?!"

"No," she said coldly, "It's just that it's completely obvious from your expression that you're just bluffing. So. Spill."

Saiko's expression changed and her eyes widened, "Well. Fine. Bascially, me and Bakawaka here think that there are going to be some super, freaking, _epic_ hollows coming around sometime soon, and—"

"That's enough, Kira," Hoshika stepped forward, grabbing Saiko by the arm, pulled her off the ladder and onto the floor. Then she turned to face the others, "She's just being a retarded attention-seeker, so just ignore her. And if you were wondering, the reason why we haven't been fighting as much is because Sanada got _really_ pissed at us yesterday and threatened to kick us out, so there, you have your answers, so go." She stared them down until it was just Mochi left. She stood there, in the doorway, looking critically at Wakanao, then turned and left.

Saiko lifted her head up from its place on the floor to look at Hoshika, "Dude. Was it just me, or did your mouth just spew a veritable _fountain_ of bullshit?" she scratched her head and muttered quietly, "Sorta like that whole spewing rainbows thing, huh?"

"Shut up, Kira," Hoshika glared at her, "Or do you really want them to know that your brain has decided that our classmates and teacher will die in a hollow attack sometime soon?"

There was silence for a while, as they stared each other down. Finally, Saiko screwed up her face and dropped her head back to the floor, "Fine. Shut up, smug asshole."

Standing outside their doorway, Mochi smirked and flash stepped to the door of her own shared room.

"I knew it."

--

Two days later, early in the morning, after Tifa and company had finally gotten over the fact that Saiko and Hoshika were not fighting as much, the two girls sat in their bunks, or rather, Hoshika sat, and Saiko hung over the edge of her bunk, looking for all the world like she was about to topple off and land in an ungainly heap on the floor.

"So I guess this means I'm not actually an epic priestess of doom and damnation that can see the future of the world in her dreams?" Saiko looked at Hoshika and cocked her head, making her hair sway so that it almost hit Hoshika in the eye. Almost.

"Maybe," she flicked the offending strands of hair away from her face, "It's only been two days, so I guess we're safe."

"Well that's great. Should we be going to get breakfast now?" she raised her eyebrows and started to swing her torso from side to side, mimicking an oversized pendulum on a clock.

"I guess," Hoshika leaned forward and flicked Saiko right between the eyes, "but maybe you should stop acting like a retard first, Kira."

Saiko sighed and fell off the bunk, somehow still landing in a crouch on the ground, "Can't I just stay here and sleep? Skip school? Eat ramen all day?"

"No," Hoshika interrupted, "Come on, let's get breakfast." She walked out of the room, leaving Saiko crouched on the ground.

She sighed and stood up, "Ok then."

The others all looked up as Hoshika walked in and sat at the table, then watched Saiko as she sat down _on_ the table and grinned at them all.

"Hey dudes. Breakfast?" she looked around at them, all eating their own individually prepared meals and slumped, suddenly looking significantly more bored, "It's obviously not quite so forthcoming today. Fine then. I'll make _my own_," she jumped off the table and stumped off to boil water for coffee(3).

They all watched her go, "Since when did Sai drink coffee?" Hiyori whispered loudly.

Saiko looked over her shoulder, still making her 'coffee'. "Since I didn't. It's got chocolate in it. Got hooked on the stuff in Europe, back when we were _alive_," she shrugged. They all stared at her. She stared back.

"And me, I'll have milk," Hoshika broke the silence, "and no cereal."

Mochi stared out the window, avoiding eye contact with Hoshika. Well, actually, the window was more of a hole in the wall, but she could and was staring out it. Outside, it was quiet, but every now and then, someone passed by, either running in a hurry or walking, slowly, tired, and probably thinking that it was far too early to even be _awake_, let alone running errands.

"Kanda. Kanda Mochi!"

"What?" she turned her head, suddenly more awake.

Hoshika stood in the doorway, looking at her, "Mochi. We have to go. The others have already left," she turned and left.

She sighed irritably, and followed after the others, still avoiding coming into contact with Hoshika.

--

They arrived at the door to the classroom more or less on time, but having seen Sanada walking on his way, they charged in and skidded in and onto their chairs. Or at least Saiko did. The others, with the exception of Mochi, ran in and sat down hastily.

Seconds later, Sanada walked in and stood at the front of the classroom.

"Today, we are just going to go over what we've learnt so far, so first, I want you all to practice Kidou. The target boards are over there," he waved to an obscure corner of the classroom, "Set them up in rows along the _length_ of the room, so that you have space to move the board back if you can shoot that far."

They all moved off and fetched boards, and Shioru immediately set up hers at the very end, then walked to the other end and fell into position, ready to fire off a shot.

"Shioru," she jumped and looked around. "Start in closer, I don't think you can fire a shot that far, even if you are one of the best kidou students," Sanada looked down at her.

She grinned, "Yeah, just watch me, sensei," she turned back to face the board, "Destructive Arts No. 31, Shot of Red Fire!" she sent a ball of blazing red fire crashing into the board, punching a hole through its centre and leaving it broken on the floor. She turned to face Sanada, triumphantly. "How's that, eh?"

He looked down at her, severely, lips pressed together in a hard, thin line, "You've been practising outside of class."

She ducked her head and looked at the ground, "I haven't, Sanada sensei, I swear I haven't!" _It wasn't practise so much as entertainment, old man._

"I don't believe you at all, but since you're such a good shot, I'll let you practise outside, but only in a secluded area and when there is no risk whatsoever of you hitting someone and killing them with the force of those shots," he glanced at the broken board where it lay, in pieces, the broken hole blackened around its edges, "However, if I allow you to do so, I will expect you to show yourself in perfect form each lesson, regardless of what may have happened elsewhere. Understood?" he glared down at her.

She grinned, "Yes, sensei!" _Well now I don't have to keep it as so much of a secret._

Saiko was still struggling to produce so much as a spark, and was clearly venting her frustration verbally on the unfortunate target board from her position where she stood less than a metre away.

She looked around desperately and spotted Shioru looking at her with what may have been a small trace of amusement curling around the corners of her mouth. Shioru raised her eyebrows at her and walked over.

"What's the matter with you?" she stood in front of Saiko, now grinning.

Saiko pulled a face, and twisted her hands around randomly in a tragic imitation of the _real_ hand movements, "I can't even make a damn spark, dude. It's like I have no reiatsu at all or something! See?!" she began to move her hands, and speak the incantation, "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Destructive Arts No.31: Shot of Red Fire!"

She looked expectantly at her hands. They twitched slightly, but nothing happened, no fiery ball of crimson fire spewed forth, no miniscule spark flared in the palms of her hands. She threw her arms up in frustration, "I mean seriously, I can't do anything that even vaguely resembles kidou! Even if I say the right words, and do the right things, it still _does not work_." Her face became progressively darker with each word.

"Well first, you're not moving your hands right, you have to do this, not twist your hands around like that," Shioru demonstrated, then made Saiko repeat this until she got it right. "_Now_, try the shot."

Saiko nodded. "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Destructive Arts No.31: Shot of Red Fire!"

Nothing.

She sat down on the floor abruptly, and fell back, "It's useless dude. Tell Sanada that I have no spirit energy or something, because I can't."

"That's weird, something should have happened, or at the least, it should have _backfired_," Shioru scratched her head.

"Che, so the little midget has finally realized she's not the best at everything?" Saiko opened her eyes properly, and hey, who else could that voice belong to, but the supreme and quintessential smug, superior stick-up-your-ass freak, Hoshika Wakanao? She smirked down at her, prodding her with her foot, "At least _I_ can fire a shot off, never mind how big it is. Just goes to show that size really does matter."

Saiko's eyes shot wide open and she swiped at Hoshika's leg, jumping up and shoving her while she was still off-balance, sending her crashing to the floor.

She pumped her fist in the air, "Yeah! Size does matter, because it's always the little ones that win in the end, eh Bakawaka?" she placed her foot squarely on Hoshika's stomach and pressed down ever so slightly so that she tensed up.

"Saiko..." Shioru began to intervene, but was cut off by an angry scream and the sound of something small and heavy crashing through one of the classroom's screen doors. She rolled her eyes and looked at the others, "Well at least they're back to normal now."

They all nodded, peering out through the hole that offered a panoramic view of nothing but ordinary buildings, with their own screen doors and thin paper walls. To the right, they heard an indignant scream followed by a loud thump. They could see Saiko holding Hoshika down with a foot whilst pinching her cheeks as she tried in vain to kick Saiko, succeeding only in putting another hole through the screen door.

Saiko grinned, "And that's for always pinching _my_ cheeks when we were alive, ba—oof!" she fell back, pushed by a strong kick to the stomach. She jumped up and back, rubbing her stomach, "Well you've just made me hungry, so you are doomed, _Bakawaka!_" she lunged at Hoshika, arms stretched out at her neck, and just when it seemed that the taller girl would end curled up on the floor, they all heard a loud crash from inside. They all froze, looked at each other, then, in a panicked scramble, dived and fell through the hole in the screen.

Saiko and Hoshika were through the screen first, and they froze. There, before them, was the exact scene that had appeared in Saiko's dream two days ago. The seven other members of their class lay scattered around, passed out, if not dead. The triple masked hollow was crouched over Sanada, and rubble lay scattered everywhere under a gaping chasm in the roof, flooding the scene with sunlight and making the hollow's masks seem to glow.

Hoshika leant towards Saiko and whispered, "It's just like your dream."

She nodded, "I know. We're doomed."

As she said this, the hollow moved closer to the body of their teacher, preparing for the spiritual feast that was to come.

They flinched visibly and turned in time to see Mochi pull out her sword, and no sooner than they had wondered in their minds how she could possibly think of taking on a large and unknown hollow with such a sword, she shouted, her whole body constricting to force every last bit of air in her lungs into that cry, "Soragen! Hatsudo!"

They all stared as her sword exploded in a blinding flash of white electricity, coming out transformed into a previously unseen shape, its crossguard gone, a strange pattern racing up its newly white length and a glittering chain ended by two savagely pointed lotus flowers. She held it before her body, and began to charge at the hollow, alternating between shunpo and running. The others looked at each other, shrugged, and on drawing their own empty vessels, charged, screaming their support for the head of the pack, their figurehead for the moment.

The hollow, hearing this clamour, turned away from Sanada's body to look at the girls charging at it. For a moment, the centre mask was a face of filthy rage, then it changed to glee, pure glee and amusement at the six untrained, teenage shinigami running at it, with only one released zanpakutou among them. It grinned, savagely, already tasting these young souls on its mutated tongue as its companions, a mask on each side, screamed and howled, sometimes laughing, cackling in a fine sadistic style.

These soon peeled away, leaving only the torturous screaming and howling of one mask and a mask next to it that no longer pulled a savage smile at the girls as Mochi, her sword ablaze with crackling electricity, struck and cleaved in two the howling mask beside it. Limbs formed from the black mass that was its now writing body, and it clutched at the broken mask, the remaining masks all the while glowering at Mochi.

Suddenly, it gathered its body up and broke into an all out charge towards Mochi, moving so fast that, however great her shunpo skills could have been, she was still struck in the neck by a flailing and misshapen limb as the hollow charged past her, still screaming its horrible dirge.

The others gasped, uttered quiet curses and ran to her as she fell.

"Mochi! Are you ok?" Hiyori screamed into her ear.

Her eyes flickered then closed as her head flopped to one side and she mumbled something incoherent, "Soba... tempura soba... want soba..."

Crouched down around Mochi's limp body, they heard a crash, and a skid, as the hollow broke Saiko and Hoshika's combined record for the greatest hole made in a classroom screen and dragged itself around, once again charging at them. Their small huddle scattered, and Hoshika was left there, standing, looking down at Mochi's body.

"Aww, shit," she picked Mochi up awkwardly and began to flash step away from the hollow in small steps, shouting over her shoulder as she went, "You guys are going to pay for this later!"

Huddled against the far wall with the other three, Saiko sniggered at Hoshika, "Look, Bakawaka's being the brave _prince_ saving the lame _damsel in distress_!" she cracked up, then fell silent as she realized that they were all glaring at her, "Ok, ok, I know she's probably going to die, but can't you at least see the bright side?"

"No," Shioru cut in shortly, "we can't. Because she probably _will_ get killed, so we should go get some help. Now."

The others nodded in agreement, and Tifa, being the second best at flash stepping, shot off to inform the nearest figure of office, or really, any shinigami that actually knew how to use their sword properly. Saiko glanced at the others, grinned, and ran off after the hollow and her friends, eager to see the outcome.

Hoshika looked down at Mochi, her face relaxed for once and her hand still firmly gripping Soragen.

"_Hello again, little sister," Kanda looked down at her, a smirk on his face._

_Mochi lay on her back, on something soft. She turned her head to the side and saw grass, beyond it, that same gazebo stood. She closed her eyes again, "Not here again... does this mean I'm mortally injured?"_

_He smiled, stifling a laugh, the lotus flowers on his necklace clinked gently together, "Nah, you'__ve__ just passed out in the arms of that smug girl, Wakanao her name was, I think__.__"_

_Mochi sat up, and one of her hands turned into a fist, "I'm getting rescued by __**Hoshika**__? Dammit, I'm getting out of here," she turned and glared at Kanda, "Let me out of here, dammit!"_

_His smiled widened even more as he shook his head. "No can do, Mochi, if you woke up now, you'd upset that Wakanao girl's pace and she'd probably drop you. Then the hollow would get you, and that wouldn't be nice, would it?"_

_She gathered a handful of the well-tended grass, and tore it out, throwing it at the river, only to see it swept away by a faint breeze. She turned and saw Kanda laughing quietly, almost silently, "You know it's futile anyway, trying to wake up by yourself. Nothing except an extreme shock would let you wake up without me knowing, but if you really do want to go back, I guess I should send you now, before Wakanao gets into some real trouble," he sighed, and looked away, at the lake, at the flowers resting on their lotus pads, at the sunset casting a golden light over everything._

"_Well, at least I was right, about them hiding something, I mean," she spoke quickly._

_He smiled and nodded, "Indeed you were. Sayonara."_

_The last thing she saw was the shattered lotus on the lake then it all faded to black._

She opened her eyes, her return to the world greeted by a startled Hoshika looking down at her as she flash stepped away from the howling hollow behind her.

"So you're not dead?" Hoshika looked over her shoulder, seeing the hollow gaining ground slowly, but inexorably, and glanced back down at Mochi to see her nod, "Then can you carry your own weight and run?"

"Yeah. Put me down, baka."

Hoshika obliged immediately, stopping momentarily to drop Mochi on the ground and continue her escape from the monster. She stepped alone for a while then Mochi caught up and began screaming abuse at her.

"What was that for? You could have at least _warned_ me, so I could have avoided almost getting eaten by that _thing_ back there!"

"Well, it was your fault for attacking it anyway, Kanda," she glanced behind her again, "And I think you should shut your trap now and concentrate on getting away, because that hollow's getting real close now. I don't think you want to get your soul sucked out."

"It's not that close behind," Mochi looked over her shoulder and watched the hollow, "See, it's still at least 50 metres back, ohh no it's not!" her voice peaked and Hoshika flinched, then looked around, thinking the hollow had suddenly come up behind them.

But it hadn't. Instead, all they saw was a blur of black and white, hacking and slashing, gouts of red blood flying, staining everything within reach. Then, once there was no longer anything to slash, nor hack at, Mochi, squinting at the scene, realised the former black and white blur was in fact Zaraki Kenpachi, Captain of the 11th squad.

"Hey, Hoshika," she whispered, nudging the girl, "Isn't that the guy Saiko crashed into during class?"

Hoshika's eyes weren't fixed on the towering man, but instead watched a small red and white figure sitting on a rooftop, "Yeah, but look over there," Mochi followed her line of vision and her eyes widened, "who do you think that is?"

Mochi almost laughed, for the small figure was now running along the tiles, jumping from roof to roof, flailing and screaming, "That's got to be her, I mean, who else would be stupid enough to run around like that on a roof top that far off the ground?"

A smile crossed Hoshika's face, "Kira, that's who. One day, that stupid bastard's going to run out of luck and fall, but I guess that until then, she'll keep doing that," she shook her head and started to walk back to their classroom, where hopefully their classmates and teacher were still alive.

Saiko caught up with them, "Dude! You guys are actually alive! So," she looked from one to the other, "who killed the damn thing?" she grinned expectantly at them.

Hoshika snorted derisively, "Neither of us, you retard, didn't you see the captain tearing into the hollow?"

"No, I didn't," she swung a fist at Hoshika's shoulder, "but I did see you running away like the little sissy you really are," she ducked under Hoshika's swinging elbow, "And I don't think it's all such a great idea, because," she ducked another arm, stepping behind her and jabbing her sides sharply, "I'm shorter than the average person, so it's not that hard for me to avoid such a high blow, and— oof!"

"Really now?" Hoshika dug her elbow into Saiko's stomach harder, "because I think I just got you, despite your supposed height 'advantage'."

"Oh, shut up, and let go of my neck or I'll bite you!" she struggled to free herself from the headlock Hoshika had her in.

"Guys! Just shut up will you?" Mochi cut in, rubbing her temple with one hand and brandishing Soragen dangerously close to their faces with the other. Obediently, they ceased arguing, though Hoshika did not release Saiko's neck.

"Where are we?" Saiko twisted her neck to try and get a better look at their surroundings.

Stopping, Hoshika looked around, not recognising any of the buildings.

"I don't know."

Behind the pair, Mochi sighed and smacked her face with the palm of her hand.

--

"So..."

"Shut up, Kira," Hoshika looked at her irritably from where she sat against the wall of a nondescript and unknown building in a nondescript and unknown part of Seireitei.

"Hey, it's not like it's _my_ fault I dreamt about this happening, it was only the whole RAAWRG-I'M-A-HOLLOW-FEAR-ME bit. And anyway, this is kinda fun," she grinned, because her hair, for once, had gotten out of her face, and it was good.

Mochi glared at her, "That's only because you're hanging upside down, Saiko. You look like a monkey, and truly, you smell like one too," she sniffed and gagged.

Hoshika had smelt it too, "Oh god, what is that?" she clapped a hand over her mouth and nose and tried not to breathe in.

Thump!

"This... This is painful," Saiko said, lying on the ground where she had fallen with her face screwed up, "Do you think hollows have BO?"

Any sneering response from either of the other two girls was cut off as Hiyori ran around the corner, holding a bag that seemed to be the source of the terrible smell.

"Hey guys! I found you!" _Yes, Ri, I can see that. _Hoshika turned her face away, keeping her hand firmly over her mouth and nose, "Look Sai! I found that ramen you threw away last week!"

Saiko gagged and turned away too, "Dude, that's disgusting, throw it away, or dump it in a bin or something before I pass out and die, will you?" as she said this, she saw Hoshika slump over, her hand dropping to expose her mouth.

Mochi raised her eyebrows, almost amusedly, "Or rather, before Hoshika passes out and dies."

"Yeah," Saiko nudged her body with her knee, "Or that. Smooth, Ri, _smooth_."

* * *

A/N!

(1) Lulz, ultimate wtf-ery. Must change that later.

(2) AHAHAHA! GUESS WHO'S SAYING WHAT! It's probably not that hard though. D:

(3) WITH CHOCOLATE IN IT. D Got some of that stuff from Salzburg when I was there, AND I'M ADDICTED. IT'S A DRUG. D:

And, OUCH. THAT WAS PAINFUL. -sob- Yes, I know it's REALLY too long now, but I couldn't really think of a way to squish all I wanted to write into less than this without ruining the OLULZFAIL effect that I _obviously_ worked so hard on.

And I don't want to write anymore, therefore (is there a symbol for that on the computer?) goodbye, and rejoice, for there will not be anymore tragic writing such as this in the world for another five chapters! Huzzah!


	12. Chapter 11

_A/N_

Do remember that I am incapable of making sense and stringing events together so at least they sound like they are supposed to go together. And just to mention, some of the things that the characters say have actually been said by them in real life, so BEWARE. And also? Some of the randomness things they do are based on what we do in Gym classes. .Enjoy!. NO wait why are you bothering?

******

_Ooh ramen_, Tifa thought.

Glancing at Saiko, she stole a cup of instant ramen from Saiko's stockpile and proceeded to fetch boiling water.

Saiko was having another one of her fits…over nothing. Still eyeing Saiko, she suddenly realised that she was overfilling her ramen cup with boiling hot water.

"Shit! Fuck! Oh! Crap! Ow! Shit! Whaat the hell?!?!"

Everyone abruptly stopped chatting and stared at Tifa. She scanned the five faces staring at her. Mochi looked at her with mild interest, Hoshika raised an eyebrow at her soaked pants and raised both when she spotted a puddle forming on the ground.

"Sighh, T.Y, if you really insist on being called that, what did you do?" Hiyori was the first to break the silence.

"Dude," Saiko deadpanned at her, "Look what you did, loser. You freaking screwed up the freaking carpet. _My_ freaking carpet. Oh, you are so cleaning that up and— _What. What?! What are you doing with my ramen!"_ her voice rose from an annoying whinge to a scary scream.

Tifa grinned sheepishly. "Heh heh… you want some?" she said, backing away as Saiko took two steps towards her.

"Lol, can I have the msg?" Shioru asked, breaking the tension.

"Mine. No msg for you."

"Oh stuff you, Tifa," Shioru retorted.

As Tifa proceeded to clean up her almighty mess, she recounted the somewhat uneventful last few days. _Except for the time when Saiko was acting all emo with Hoshi as her emo friend._ _Which we then found out it was because she __just saw into the future__. And then it just so happened that Mochi already knew her Zanpakutou's name and knew how to use it and like PWNED the massive thing with __three__ faces._

_No she didn't, she passed out, _said a calm voice in her head.

"Huh?" Tifa wondered aloud. "Oh. Right. Yeah…uh….huh?" She looked up only to find everyone staring at her weirdly as if she was going mad.

Flashing everyone a cheesy grin, she distanced herself from the group and went upstairs.

Maybe I _am_ going mad, she thought. Or……? Heck, I must have a double personality or something, ne? She absentmindedly paced the corridor.

_THUMP._

"Gaaaaaaaahh!"

Mochi bashed into Tifa when she decided to follow her up the stairs while reading _that book_. Still intently staring at the page, she looked up to find Tifa on the floor.

"Oh. Sorry," was her nonchalant and unassuming apology.

Still crumpled on the ground, Tifa blinked twice at Mochi. A stoned expression replaced her scowl. Dusting herself off, she was just about to escape into the bathroom when Mochi said quietly, "You're not going mad, by the way, if that's what you're thinking."

_How does she know__?! _Tifa panicked. "Wha— what do you mean? _Am_ I going crazy? My inner voice or whatever keeps annoying me."

"Nope. You'll find out soon enough." Mochi twitched the corner of her mouth to form an ever so slight smile.

Tifa leaned over the railings at the top of the staircase, watching the others playing some card game. "What's happening? I want to _find out_."

Saiko's loud and pretentious voice interrupted her thoughts. "Unoooo!"(1)Saiko raised up both her arms in victory as she dragged out the last syllable, revealing to everybody to her final card. "Awww, shit. Don't you even _dare_ change the colour, _Bakari_." She narrowed her eyes at Hiyori, just as she was about to put down a wild card(1).

"Eeeeeeeeeee! I want to play!!" Tifa screeched as she ran down the stairs dragging Mochi along behind her.

**********

After several rounds of screaming, slapping, scratching, winning, losing, flailing, and most importantly, _failing_, each lay spaced out and dead, slumped somewhere near the table. Every, single, person was beat from two hours straight of intense arguing, malicious nail-digging and I-will-claw-out-your-eyes scratching, and they were definitely not afraid to show it. Each looked like a total stoner sprawled on the sofas and the floor. You'll have to say, not much of it was actually card playing; Saiko repeatedly threw her cards at/on people whenever she lost, which was -ahem- very quite often; Mochi kept "cutting(2)" to annoy people; and everyone else was bickering over the rules and which is a '6' and which is a '9'.

Then after a momentary silence, which was a significant change from moaning and sighing and 'gahh-ing', Hiyori suddenly piped up. "Hey let's play snap!"

All of a sudden, the same six people with the same stoned faces brightened, and seemed to forget how utterly dead they were, from playing _Uno _for god's sake, never mind _snap_.

"Yeah okay!! Play snap, play snap!" Tifa sat up.

Saiko shot up from the floor at an alarming rate, muttered something like, "play-snap-yes-go-oh-wait-cards! I'll get them nowwww-shit," and stumbled off, returning after at least ten minutes with her Mozart* cards she got from Europe.

Saiko squared her shoulders and dealt out the cards, only two seconds later to have them re-dealt by Hoshika as she shook her head at the dealing noob, who kept skipping people or accidentally giving them half the deck.

"We're snapping the same suits, by the way. Last person to snap the pile gets the cards!" said Hoshika in a matter-of-fact-you-should-know-this-by-now tone.

"We _know_ the game back to front, Hoshi-hoshi." Hiyori smiled sweetly at Hoshika.

As the game commenced, everyone crowded around the growing pile of cards in the middle. Each stared intently, too immersed in their game that each time anyone mistook a _10_ for an _ace_, everyone followed _suit_ and swiftly shoved their hands towards the pile.

"awiehnobasojdifba. False alarm!" Tifa grudgingly swept the cards towards herself.

Every time Saiko was the last to snap, she decided to compensate for her losing and even things out by painfully slapping the shit out of everyone else's hands.

After a long, long night the six 'lil shinigami lay exhausted on their beds, the back of their hands covered with scratch marks and red and obnoxious crescent-shaped indents, all except Saiko, the little bitch.

**********

It was cold.

Numbingly cold.

_Where am I?_

_Meh, this feeling kinda reminds me of the fridge from the hotel. What happened? Oh, yeah. I froze to death. I suppose this is a nightmare? Of my death? But everything is so blank and white...plus there's no food..._

Tifa Yuri stood in the midst of an endless white snow mist. She gazed around. Everywhere she looked was an endless stretch of blank nothingness. What she supposed was the ground was white. The sky was white. Wherever she looked was dizzying whiteness. She screwed up her face, trying to remember how on earth she got to this cold, empty place. Solitude engulfed her. She couldn't remember anything, she could barely remember who she even was; even her existence seemed trivial. Tifa took two steps. It felt and looked like she was walking on air. It barely felt like she had even moved. She continued walking, trying to keep roughly to what she thought was a straight path.

Suddenly Tifa stopped abruptly. She glimpsed a shadow of a person out corner of her eye. Tifa quickly whipped her head around, craning her head to spot the shadow she had glimpsed, but wherever she looked, there wasn't a soul in sight.

"Hello?" She called out uncertainly.

_I must be hallucinating, _Tifa thought_. This stoner place is making me see things._

She went back to walking aimlessly.

_Well isn't this gay. Is this a dream?_

She pinched herself hard, and felt the pain running through her arm.

_Fff. I guess not._

After a few minutes of walking —or could it have been a mere few seconds?— she stopped. She had completely lost her sense of time...and space. And the blank stony whiteness of her surroundings was starting to make her frustrated and impatient.

But she felt something, someone's presence. Someone's reiatsu? No, it couldn't be. Not in this desolate place. Maybe they were somewhere outside of this snow mist?

She quickened her pace.

Though the scenery around her didn't change, she felt like she was getting closer. But... closer to what? She definitely felt like something was attracting her towards whatever direction she was heading.

She broke into a run. Then suddenly without notice she suddenly ran out of the mist and into a landscape of snow capped mountains and halted abruptly. She didn't see it coming; one minute she was running towards nowhere, then the next, an opening out of the mist appeared a few meters away from her.

She looked back and blinked twice. All she saw was a small white cloud...of ice crystals? She couldn't believe she got lost in _that_. Had she been going in circles, all this time?

She stood in a scene of mountains and snow and all that was winter. No wait, _ice mountains? Glaciers? What is this place?_ It seemed to be night-time here. The sky was a dark, dark midnight blue. No stars were present, just a very large pale white moon. Tifa stared dumbfounded at it. She still felt the sensation of being attracted to something. Attracted to that huge moon? She shook her head in disbelief.

Without warning, the moon seemed to shine a beam of light on the ground a few meters away from Tifa. She stared wide-eyed as mist began to materialise roughly in the shape of a person within the circle. The beam of light disappeared and a pale woman took its place. Looking up, her eyes met Tifa's, both of which were the exact same shade of midnight blue.

Tifa broke the silence.

"Who are you?"She asked flatly at this strange woman.

"_Nani?!_" was her reply. The woman now looked a little stunned at Tifa's slowness, and also a little angry.

"Um, sorry, I, oh, have we met before? 'Cos I don't remember you from-HEY WAIT THATS MY LINE!" Tifa's voice went from a timid stutter to an accusing sharp yell.

"What? _NANI? _Like hell it's your line. I use it just about every minute of the day!" shot back the white woman.

Tifa narrowed her eyes.

_  
_"'Sif!" Tifa shot back. "IT'S SO MY LINE! And who the hell— HEY, HEY WAIT! 'LIKE HELL': THATS MY LINE TOO. OH MY GAWD!" Tifa was fuming.

The white lady sneered at the mad, little girl standing in front of her. "Its not my problem if you have anger management issues, _Tifa Yuri_."

The scowl on Tifa's face turned into an expression of shock. "What— Where— How do you know my name?" Tifa skipped from sentence to sentence, cutting each off in her surprise.

"How can I not know it? I am part of you; born directly from your soul, but until now, you weren't ready, so I did not show myself. Since you became a shinigami, I have dwelled inside you, sleeping a deep sleep, until you were ready to awaken me," the white lady explained herself calmly.

_Huh? _

"So you're the person who keeps talking to me in my head…. Ahh. I get it now."

The woman in front of her nodded solemnly.

"Who are you?" Tifa repeated the same words she said when they first met. Her tone, though, was different.

"I am Hyosesu, But the question is: are you, Tifa Yuri, going to be my wielder?" answered the so-called Hyosesu.

Tifa's eyes widened in understanding.

_This lady is the spirit of my soon-to-be Zanpakutou, she is a part of me, and no wonder she knew all my catch phrases. _"You, you're going to be my zanpakutou?"

"It is not up to me to decide whether you will wield me. It is up to _you_ to force me into submission. Call out, _'By moonlight, _freeze,' and then follow through with my name, and I will come," said Hyosesu smoothly.

Tifa nodded. With a determined look on her face, she raised her hand and shouted, "By Moonlight_, _FREEZE, Hyosesu!"

Hyosesu vaporized into ice crystals, slowly floated towards Tifa's outstretched hand and condensed into a white blade. A blue ribbon floated from the hilt and between the hilt and the guard was a single, thin layer of ice. The guard itself was a circular blue ring, the colour very much like the ribbon. When Tifa raised her new zanpakutou up to the air, its blade caught and reflected the moonlight, illuminating her surroundings and her vision with a blinding white light.

******

Tifa woke up. She was still lying in her bed, the dream still clearly etched in her consciousness.

_Now what kind of dream was that? Craaazy…yet it was so realistic._

She raised her right hand up to scratch her head, but stopped when she realised she was holding something relatively heavier than a soft toy. She held the object up against the light from the window, and it immediately caught the moonlight and began blindingly reflecting the light everywhere into the room.

_Now that, creeps me out. Didn't that happen in the dream?_

Tifa held the object closer. Was it a zanpakutou in its shikai form? At this time of the night, it was too dark to tell, but it was the first time she made the effort to examine it, since she woke up, at least. She held it up against the moonlight once more and the blade reflected the moonlight wildly once again. This time her eyes caught the glare and images of her realistic dream flashed in her mind.

"OMG! It's not just any old zanpakutou, it's mine!!" Tifa cried out aloud.

She ran to wake up Shioru and tell her the news. "Shioru, SHIORU!! Get up, you lazy bum! I got my thing-thing!"

Shioru didn't respond.

"Shioooru! Shiiooooooruuuu!" Tifa repeated as she shook her roommate.

Shioru just laid there, defensively clutching her teddy, completely unaffected by Tifa's shaking.

Not deterred by Shioru's lack of enthusiasm and lack of consciousness, Tifa held up her zanpakutou up against the moonlight once more and reflected it directly into Shioru's face.

"What the hell?? What's with this light? Turn it- Tifa…?" Shioru trailed off as she saw Tifa glowering above her, with a sword raised up above her head. Shioru backed away from her when Tifa lowered her arms and the light disappeared.

Tifa grinned broadly at Shioru. "Guess what?!" She held up her zanpakutou. "I got my zanpakutou!! Wooooh!"

"You what?" Shioru was still groggy from waking up, and lights were still blinking on and off around her head. "Wait, _what?_ You got your zanpakutou?" Shioru spotted the white sword in Tifa's hand. "Come on, _at this time of the night? _It's a few minutes past midnight!_"_ she said as she glanced at the digital clock.

Tifa shrugged. She proceeded to explain in detail to Shioru about how a white lady appeared in a dream, turned into the white zanpakutou, how white light illuminated her sight and her surroundings when she held it up into the moonlight, and how she woke up with it in her hand and bleh, what was she supposed to do now?

"Mochiii!! Wake up! What the heck am I supposed to do now??" She yelled vaguely towards where Mochi was sleeping, since she had been there, done that, and found her zanpakutou's spirit. "Saiii!!! Get up!!" She briefly flashed the reflection of moonlight onto her face before Shioru yanked Tifa's wrists away from the window.

"Shut up! Don't wake up Saiko!!!! You wanna freaking die?" shushed Shioru. Tifa, obviously lacking any common sense, momentarily forgot the consequences she would indeed have to face if Saiko was disturbed during her _beauty sleep._

Saiko rolled over in her bed, muttering almost incoherent words.

"What was that?" Shioru and Tifa froze, praying that Saiko wouldn't wake up and murder them all.

_Ring-ding-ding…Ring-ding-ding…._

From where Tifa and Shirou stood, they could hear a faint ringdingding-aringdingding coming from her bunk.

"Huh?" asked Tifa.

Immediately Saiko awakened, shot up, hit her head on the roof, came toppling over the side and crashed right next to Hoshika.

"Ow fffff. What is this wtf-ery?"

"Saii..! I don't care if you're going on your late night trip to the kitchen, just be quiet!" complained an extremely irritated Hoshika.

"Ring-ding-ding! Wake up Bakawaka!"

"(3)Nan da yo!?" yelled Hoshika, her voice muffled by her pillow.

"It's time to get up! Now go! You go! I'll go! Dammit, let's all go!" Saiko stood up and bounced loudly on Hoshika's bed, making the whole bunk tremble.

Suddenly the lights flashed on and the people who were awake screwed up their faces in the presence of the incandescent light.

"What the hell are you guys doing? Quieten down, the whole neighbourhood can probably hear you!" said Mochi, who was standing next to the light switch, looking pretty tattered and beat for the almighty Mochi Kanda.

"Huh? Wah? Eugh? Is it time already? Why didn't my pretty-ful alarm clock ring?" Hiyori's groggy, yet cheery voice rang out.

"No, it's not time to go, it's… still a few minutes past midnight," replied Shioru, who was still adjusting to her bright surroundings.

"What?! Why did you wake me up for?" whinged Hoshika, her eyes still half closed.

"Who turned the light on then?" asked Hiyori.

"Then why was it all bright and sunny? The sun shined its laser light rays at my face! " questioned Saiko, as she looked out of the window only to find that it was indeed, still night time.

"So WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS DOING GODDAMMIT!?"

Two short seconds of uneasy silence followed Mochi's outrage. Mochi stared at Hiyori who glanced vaguely at Hoshika, who turned and glared at Saiko, who shrugged and pointed at Shioru who was nudging Tifa in the ribs the whole time.

Then all six shinigami-in-training started talking at once.(4)

"Isn't it time to go? Someone turned on the light and oh-noes I need to shower!"

"Bakari, what's going on?"

"Hey guys!"

"Bakawaka!"

"Guuuuys!!"

"Dude. Why the hell did you wake me up? Retard! Can't you see its midnight? Or do you lack the ability to tell the time?"

"It's freaking dark outside, how can any of you think it's time to go?"

"GUYS! Shut the Fu….aaark up!!!!" Tifa in a desperate attempt, raised her Zanpakutou once more to the moonlight and illuminated the room again with the brilliant glaring light.

"Aaarrgg!" Shouted everyone in unison while they attempted to shield their eyes from the glare.

The stoned expressions on everyone's faces resulted in Tifa doubling up on the floor, laughing. Half a minute later, she stood back up, oblivious to the fact that everyone was bleakly staring at her. As she stood up, her sword briefly reflected the room light again for a minute second, enough for everyone to catch a glimpse of the annoying object that sent them into seizures of flashing white lights blinking on and off around their heads.

"So…." Completely forgetting about her zanpakutou, she stretched up into a yawn, flailing her sword too close to Hiyori's face.

"Wahh, T.Y, why are you holding a white sword?" Hiyori backed away, staring horrified at the sharp object that obviously had wandered too close to her face.

Tifa looked up, raised her eyebrows at the forgotten object in her hand and exclaimed, "Oh yeah!! Look, look, look!! I got my zanpakutou!!"

"Reaally!" Hiyori immediately brightened and leapt up to examine its thinness, her face falling when she realised it wasn't exactly paper thin.

"It's not yours! It can't be yours!" Saiko snatched it from the grasp of Hiyori, and was very interested in blinding Hoshika once more with bright light.

"Mada. You're just jealous you haven't gotten your's yet, baka."

"No! Besides, _you_ shouldn't really be talking because I bet you're gunna be the last one to release yours!"

Mochi stood on the side, thinking. _Tch. What's so exciting about getting your zanpakutou?_

"_You knew, didn't you?" _Kanda's voice interrupted her thoughts._ "You knew that she also had her zanpakutou's spirit communicating with her, yet you didn't say anything."_

"_Tch. I had to think I was going insane, no one told me it was my stupid sword. So tough cookies__,"_Mochi said vaguely, in her head.

"When did you get it?" Everyone abruptly quit talking.

"Uh… a few minutes ago... I woke up and it was barely past midnight." Tifa vaguely responded, looking quizzically at Mochi who seemed to be studying her.

"I'm bored. Lets have a mass sword fight!!" exclaimed Saiko.

"Must we?" Shioru said in disbelief, staring vainly at the time.

"Yeaahh lets have one, I'm already pumped!!" Tifa jumped up onto her bunk.

"Keep your sheaths on everyone. And please, don't _kill_ anyone, _Saiko._" Hoshika narrowed her eyes at the short one.

Everybody stared uncertainly at their swords. Just what if something happened? No one realised that Hiyori had left them staring tentatively at their sheathed weapons, and took to rummaging through an old cupboard.

"Hey look guys! I found these _awesome_ foam katana in the cupboard back here!" Hiyori's held out her arm, showing them a foam sword, which still looked quite new. Everyone scrambled over to take a look. "Oh noes, there's only five!" She counted the long foam toys.

"RI. You're _holding_ the sixth one." Mochi sighed at her somewhat dim witted friend.

"Oops. Forgot I was still holding it. Let's go!"

Taking their stances, the six friends glared at one another. Hoshika blandly asked what they were supposing to do, to which Shioru replied, "Last one standing wins. Everyone else on the floor loses. Okay?"

This suggestion proved to be very idealistic; no sooner after she finished talking Saiko leapt at Hoshika, and with others following their lead, everyone with the exception of Shioru wound up on the ground, in a heap just like _sardines. _Tifa stretched out her arm and swiped at Shioru, who was airborne for a split second before making a satisfying _thump_ as she landed on the ground with her butt.

"Arrrrrrgh…" She muttered, before everyone stood back up to knock each other back down again in the most painful way, i.e. coming down on their butt.

******

Breakfast was an abnormally silent one as everyone was still very sleepy from yesterday card chaos and midnight duelling, and didn't have much of an appetite. Except for Saiko and Tifa. _They_ were happily munching up their cereal while constantly keeping their eyes open for unwanted food. Tifa watched Shioru as she tried to eat with her left hand.

"T.Y, what'cha looking at?" Hiyori stared at Shioru with mild interest.

Almost as if on cue, everyone else proceeded to follow what Shioru was doing. One by one, each of them failed.

"Noo, why? Why must I be so impaired in my left hand that I may not even eat with it?" complained Saiko as she couldn't even hold both chopsticks in her left hand at once.

"Che," muttered Hoshika, smirking at Saiko failing miserably.

Mochi transferred her chopsticks to the left hand…and continued eating tempura soba, a feat that mesmerized Shioru, leaving her ramen open to the grabby hands of Saiko.

"Sigh…guys I need to go and shower. I feel really icky, _especially_ after yesterday."

"Bakari, you stink." remarked Mochi.

"I do not!!" Even as Hiyori spoke, her face showed uncertainty as she attempted to sniff out any odours.

Shioru suddenly stood up, knocking her bowl of ramen over, spilling some of the soup on Saiko. "Ooops sorry… doesn't matter. Guys, we're late again!"

"Whaa? Oh shit." Saiko scrambled around to find a tissue, or anything, really, that would lessen the stain already spreading on her uniform.

"But wait! I still need to shower!!" whimpered Hiyori, looking very desperate.

"You'll live. Now get going, Bakari." Mochi shot Hiyori a death glare.

"(5)Ikuzo!" Shouted Hoshika.

******

(1) I sincerely hope that everyone knows what Uno is. If you don't then SHAME. Go google it. Link: www. google. com :D Obviously you'll have to delete the spaces.

(2) "Cutting" in Uno just means that someone puts down a card that is the exact same color and number as the current card even if it's not their turn; thus skipping a whole lot of people's turns. And annoying them.

(3) 'Nan da yo' Just means WHAT??!?! It's something that Hoshika has recently taken as a catch favourite phrase.

(4) And yes, I made it quite obvious who's saying what.

(5) Ikuzo means LETS GO. Yet another saying that Hoshika has taken to say.

Any how, has anyone realised that my so called "Pagebreaks" *** those things all consists of **6 **stars/snowflakes? WHY IS THIS SIGNIFICANT? Loseerrr. –makes scary faces at you- :D. Oh snap I am S.M.A.R.T. Clara's gunna say lameo though. You sounded just like Bakari there.

* Hey, random evil "beta'er" note. These aren't half as dorky as they sound. They've just got a copy of a page of Mozart's handwritten scores on the back, and they're expensive. –sob- 14 EUROS FOR A PACK OF TWO. –dead-


	13. Chapter 12

**S****ix Shinigami Chronicle**

* * *

Chapter 12: Introducing Super Charged Hollows

Shioru crept around the corner. The morning was still a dreary grey and the school was silent and dark. She had come, or rather she had broken in, to find another target board to practice her Kidou with because the last one had snapped in half when she shot it with a binding spell. But what lay between her and the equipment shed was the teachers staff room and teachers being teachers (who were renowned for being… a bit whacked up in the head) could possibly be awake at this time of the day. This was confirmed when she slipped between two buildings to take the course that had maximum cover and yellow light spilling out from a window. Grateful that the light was not as white and blinding as Tifa's Zanpakutou, she crouched under the window and decided to eavesdrop.

"We must graduate them soon; it is the wish of the Gotei 13," Sanada's irritated voice floated to where Shioru was, leaning into the shadows as much as she could. "I would not want to disappoint them."

"But the children aren't ready! Most can't even take down an ordinary Hollow without some assistance," another voice, this time feminine with a lilting accent argued. "If they can't do that, what use are they to the Protection Squads? If we must graduate them, then we at least should give them the top students."

"The casualty rate is alarmingly high! We need more back up if the world is to be balanced. Curse those Hollows," Sanada's voice dropped. "What are they again? Aren't they just 'Super-charged'* Hollows who happen to have a very high resistance to any attacks we throw at them?"

"That's about it. I'm not clear on the details. No one is."

Shioru heard Sanada sigh. "Could you please close the window? I feel a draught coming in."

A shadow appeared in the patch of light on the ground and Shioru watch it as it closed the window. All she could hear now were just muffled sounds. Never mind though, there are still target boards waiting to be stolen.

.

Sanada walked in with pursed lips. He set down his armful of books and whatnot onto the table then shot a piercing glare straight at every student in the class. Anyone could see the cogs and mechanics in his brain working at full speed but what the cause for haste was, no one had even the slightest inkling. After he had stared everyone down, he produced quite a number of sheets from his folder and sent people around distributing them.

"Hey, reckon how many trees he killed with all that paper?" Hiyori nudged Mochi who just shrugged her off.

"Baka, they're all made from spirit particles anyway, who cares?"

"But, but, global warming! And climate change!" Hiyori cried

"They only exist in the real world. Besides, _I_ think it's a government scam."

Hiyori cocked her head to the side and started to garble about how she never saw that one coming, to which Mochi just sighed. When Sanada wasn't looking, Mochi decided to whack Hiyori with the book she was reading. That immediately shut Hiyori up. Mochi turned her attention to the worksheets in front of her and scrutinized the writing and she almost felt sorry for the Division or whomever was made to transcribe and copy this rubbish down.

Turning away from the sheets, she decided to ask Shioru about Sanada's out of character behaviour, but instead of the usual flamboyant* answer, she received a pensive look. Shioru was, undoubtedly, acting strangely, though she tried to cover it up. And learning from experience, that was, Hoshika and Saiko acting a bit, ahem, pardon the stereotype, 'emo', she realised that something was indeed up and as soon as Mochi came to that conclusion, she began to wait in an almost impatient manner for the bell to ring.

When the god-forsakenly loud toll of a school bell rang, Mochi immediately cornered Shioru, but not without drawing any attention**. Apparently, Hoshika had just happened to pass by the ambush site, and so, the three stood in a circle in silence. Mochi gave a reproachful look at having to start the conversation.

"Explain," Mochi began, eyeing Shioru warily, "Sanada's behaviour and such."

Shioru gave Mochi an inscrutable look before relaying what she had heard the previous night. After she had said everything that she could, the three sat in relatively thoughtful silence, going over what they had learned and digesting it slowly. How long they sat there could not possibly be measured in hours, but it was evidently long enough that the other three of their group would care to go looking for them.

"Mochi! Shioru and Hoshika too!" Hiyori sang as she rounded the corner. "Omo! What is this? A gathering of the three awesome people? I wanna join!"

"Baka, you're too pathetic to join! This is the group of the sane people. Saaaane dude, sane," Saiko dragged out the word. "And the clearly evident problem here is that you, my friend are insane."

"Insane?" Tifa questioned. "That just means that I'm in sane, as in I'm inside the sane world."

Tifa and Hiyori shared a look before bursting out in laughter, Hiyori also trying to congratulate Tifa on her lame pun whenever a break in her laughter would allow. Saiko was trying to bash both Hiyori and Tifa up for such a lame pun while wearing an exasperated face that was so ridiculously twisted, it sent the other two girls into another round of giggling.

"Anyways, what's up?" Tifa said as she calmed down. The three girls who were still deep in thought glanced at each other, weighing the consequences and came to the conclusion that telling them wouldn't hurt. So Shioru recounted her story once again, at the end of which saw all six girls in quiet deliberation.

"Let's eat the 'super-charged' Hollows alive!" Saiko said enthusiastically whilst flailing her arms in a fashion that vaguely indicated a poor representation of battle. Tifa agreed instantly, stating that she could now use her Zanpakutou in a real fight. And that was all the encouragement Saiko needed to get pumped. She grabbed the nearest two people and started to drag them away, Tifa following close behind. Mochi and Shioru sighed simultaneously and trudged after them, loudly regretting ever telling the crazy psycho of the Gotei 13's predicament.

"Where are we going anyway?" Shioru asked Mochi.

"Who knows? Most likely to a Senkai gate to try and sneak out," Mochi replied and pulled her book out of her sleeve*** and proceeded to flash step at a pace that her companion could keep up with.

"What about last time?" Shioru distinctively remembered Hoshika's triumph over everyone's stupidity when they decided to sneak out to the real world, only to have been tricked by the Thirteenth Division. It was humiliating to say the least. "Would it happen again?"

"Hoshi-hoshi will know when we get there."

As the two arrived at the main Senkai gate, they saw Saiko spitting at the guard's faces with Hoshika trying to restrain the livid girl. Mochi took one look at the display and rolled her eyes, muttering something along the lines of 'childish idiot', while Shioru just chuckled.

"Move aside, Saiko!" Tifa's voice said. "And watch my prowess!" Tifa started to draw her sword from her waist. "By moonlight, freeze; Hyosesu!"

The five other girls averted their gaze from the blinding white that they knew would be coming, but unfortunately for the guards, they got the sun reflected into their eyes, temporarily blinding them. As they stumbled around brandishing their swords dangerously close to the group, the six friends— who had carefully masked their reiatsu— crept close to the double doors and leant against them. They all threw glares at the tiny words on the bottom that read 'Open Sesame'. As one of the double doors opened, six Hell Butterflies flew out to greet them, and they pelted past the threshold and into the blinding white.

They ran far into the white until they saw the traditional circular door opening ahead and they staggered into the night. It was a clear night. The moon hung in the sky, smiling brightly down at the six girls who stood still, detecting any Hollows via reiatsu. They stood there for perhaps a few minutes, frowns etched across the faces before all six pointed northwest and yelled, "there!" in very excited tones.

Throwing glares at each other, they hurriedly flash-stepped to the site. Mochi, being the fastest, reached the enemy first and dispatched it before Shioru, lagging behind as she was, arrived. Disappointed that it wasn't one of the 'super-charged' Hollows Shioru had overheard, they huddled together to discuss.

"Are you sure you heard right?" Hiyori questioned Shioru. Shioru nodded. "And are you sure they are 'super-charged'?" Again, Shioru responded with the affirmative. "And are you sure that they aren't talking about some random business?"

"They seemed very serious," Shioru replied.

"And are you sure—"

Saiko let out an exasperated 'argh!' noise, grabbing her face and draggin it down while Mochi's eye almost twitched. "Will you shut it with the 'are you sure's'? Clearly, we were just unlucky enough to meet an ordinary Hollow! I mean, come on! No one ever said they were so common place that the first hollow that on would run into outside of Soul Society would be a 'super-charged' one!" Saiko yelled, now flailing, as was customary when she was irritated.

"But what if the 'super-charged Hollows' never even existed in the first place?" Hiyori protested just as loudly as Saiko.

"Well, I don't know! We can all look like idiots together, happy? Then Sanada-sensei and Ukitake-taichou can scold us all too, after which we will fail our exams and never become actual Shinigami! Hell, the Hollows are annoying. Why am I here again? If the Hollows are annoying, what do you think the 'super-charged Hollows' would be like? I bet you they're going to invade Soul Society roaring like stupid beasts—"

Silence fell on the group. Each glanced at the other.

"Did you hear?" Tifa asked unnecessarily because it was obvious that they had all heard.

The wind blew gently and the sound was again heard. It was a distant war cry, challenging the girls. Only one beast could be roaming around at night, in the city and make that noise that no other person could hear. Saiko grinned diabolically. What a nice target, forget about it being annoying! This was one fight she wasn't going to miss. She darted off, before any of the others could react, throwing a 'Race you there! It's mine! The damn thing is _mine_!" over her shoulder. The others hurried up to catch her.

There, in the middle of a park, stood a Hollow. It was perhaps around the same height as a three-storey building with a muscled build. It took on the appearance of a dinosaur, with far-too-large fangs that hung down, glistening in the moonlight. The colour was a sickening green that had a touch of brown. But what was unusual was the colour of its eyes. Those who were sharp enough caught the red, bloodlust-filled gleam, different from the normal yellow. The red held some amount of intelligence as Saiko, eager for a good sword clash or in this case, a sword-against-claws clash, charged, all the while yelling vulgar insults.

Saiko approached, sword behind her as she used her momentum to give strength to her slash. Clang.

The monster blocked the seemingly powerful attack with just one oversized claw. Shocked, Saiko gritted her teeth and tried to saw the claw off. Concentrating hard, she leant into it, driving her blade as far into the claw as she could. If she could chop it off, then she could chop its head off right? It just meant the creature, this 'Super-charged' Hollow, wasn't as invincible as Shioru made it sound. Now if she could just—

White! Fuck! Something flashed on the edge of her vision. A 'Saiko!' was heard. Then black blue, black blue as Saiko felt herself tumble.

"Damn that Saiko!" Shioru muttered. "If I hadn't done the first level Path of Destruction spell, she would be dead!"

The monster looked at the girl it could've killed with just one swipe of its claws. It seemed to know that Saiko was a bit disorientated and decided to take full advantage of it. It completely turned its large body and raised one foot. It roared a triumphant cry into the night as Saiko looked up at the shadow that had just fallen on her. The beast brought its foot down. Hard.

Something, no, six somethings, were poking into its foot. And it hurt. The creature retracted its foot and saw the six shinigami standing there, bickering.

"Far out dude, I didn't need any of your help!" Saiko was yelling.

"Sure, sure, like you wouldn't be ripped in half if Shioru hadn't used Kidou to knock you out of the way," Tifa Yuri replied sarcastically.

"Oh, shut up!" Saiko exclaimed as she turned on Tifa, her eyes glaring daggers. Tifa saw the look and sensibly backed away.

"Kira!" Hoshika ordered. Glaring eyes bored into the taller girl. "We're not going to fight, understand?" Hoshika paused, then said quietly, "did you notice?"

Mochi and Shioru replied the affirmative while scrutinizing the monsters every move. Tifa glanced at the monster and commented on how the air felt distorted around it. Hiyori scrunched up her face as she tried to feel whatever Tifa was feeling. Saiko just huffed.

"The monster…" Shioru trailed away when the monster's forelegs twitched. Instinctively, her hands raised a fraction, as if ready to shoot a Kidou spell.

"It should be called a beast," Mochi stated calmly as she produced some parchment from her sleeve. "It's too dumb to be called a monster. Take care of it for me. I'll be by that tree"— she pointed at a random direction and headed towards it— "that is, if you can't defeat it on your own."

There were exclaims full of either panic or incredulity on Hiyori's part as Mochi left. The monster's blood red eyes followed the girl's movements but left her alone for she wasn't attacking. It turned its attention to the remaining girls. It growled, a gurgling, unintelligent noise from its chest.

"Oh yeah! Nice one. Just leave the slavering monster-bastard to the incompetent fools. Yeah! Great idea, _baka_," Saiko drawled as she pelted towards the Hollow.

"She'll only be wasting her strength," Shioru commented. "We need a plan."

Hoshika, Hiyori and Tifa nodded. Hoshika said, "I'll observe from above and look for a pattern in its moves." And the brunette jumped away, gathering spirit particles to form a platform. She watched. The monster's head was lined with sharp spikes that protruded towards the sky. From up there, the beast looked like a plastic toy, a T-rex model that little boys would want to play with, bobbing it from side-to-side, forwards and backwards, attack to the left, retreat towards the right, block Saiko's sword with a claw, then left again, right, left, left… like as if it knew that Saiko was right-handed and that her left side was weaker… but that was impossible.

Hoshika had, along with some of the others, observed how low of intelligence it was. It couldn't speak, it only roared. All it cared for was survival… But Hollows' strength, as they had learned, grew with its intelligence, but this was certainly not the case here, which meant only one thing…

Saiko looked like an ant against the Hollow from above, an ant armed with a deadly sword, lunging for the Hollow's chest. There! The Hollow had acted strangely! Hoshika witnessed the Hollow as it shifted its weight and turned its body a bit as if avoiding wanting the sword to plunge dead set in the middle of its chest. It must've been something, otherwise the beast wouldn't have let off a cry of rage and charge recklessly at Saiko.

"Way of Binding, number sixty-one: Six Rods Prison of Light!" Shioru yelled, panicking. That Saiko! Always rushing into things just for the fun of it! The Hollow screamed in pain as it was stabbed. It tried to thrash around, its forelegs striking the yellow spell, visibly cracking it. Shioru's eyes grew wide. Hiyori yelled for Mochi to help as the spell completely disintegrated.

The monster bellowed, its eyes gleaming in anger. It reared back then threw its head forwards, jaws wide, straight at Shioru. Rooted to the spot, the girls could only watched as the teeth grew closer. Suddenly, something fell from the sky, heavy like a rock, and landed on the Hollow's face. Distracted, the Hollow clawed at its own face. Hoshika, who had plummeted from the sky, stabbed the butt of her sheathed blade into the Hollow's eye and flash-stepped away, grabbing Saiko's arm in the process.

"Yuri, your sword. Blind that thing's other eye," Hoshika commanded. Stunned, Tifa could only comply. "Kira, you're going to distract it. Just flail your arms about like you usually do. Ri, go with her and make sure she doesn't die in the process. Akechi, get ready to cast a binding spell, this time say the incantation. Kanda, get your lazy self over here! I want you to use Soragen and get a good shot at the chest, dead straight in the centre."

"By moonlight, freeze, Hyosesu!" Tifa called. Everyone shielded their eyes and Tifa expertly directed the light into the Hollow's eyes, making it give off a pain-filled screech. Saiko stomped over and flailed her arms around, windmill style, like Hoshika told her to, with Hiyori tagging nervously behind. Saiko gave off quite a lot of reiatsu, tempting the Hollow with it.

"Akechi!"

"Right, Hoshika," Shioru took a deep breath. "Carriage of Thunder. Bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into six! Way of Binding, Number Sixty-one: Six Rods Prison of Light!"

The spell hit the Hollow and it howled with agony again. It knew this feeling, and it remembered what happened last time. It thumped the things that was holding it down while trying to strike where all the Shinigami reiatsu was coming from. It was hungry, it wanted more.

Hoshika nodded at Mochi. Mochi looked down at her sword. "Not worth it," she mumbled under her breath as she drew it. "Just a simple Shunpo and slash." In a blink of an eye, she pushed off from the ground, then once again on one of the Rods that held the Hollow captive and stabbed the sword right through the heart. Warm blood flowed from her sword and onto her hands. She just hoped that her parchments she was reading earlier wouldn't get stained.

With one last scream to the full-moon above, the Hollow turned to ash.

"I'm exhausted!" Shioru exclaims as she lay down on the ground. "That binding spell was way too much for me."

"Well, I'm up for another round of Hollow hunting! Fwooo!" Saiko shouted and whooped, jumping around in the moonlight, looking for all the world to be a delusional demon on drugs.

"Argh, go home, Saiko," Tifa slumped on the grass. "It's passed our bedtime already."

The girls lay on the ground. All except two.

"Mochi," Hiyori whispered. "I thought I saw someone among the trees when I was with Saiko. I swear I saw a haori. I think it was either… Third, Fifth or Twelfth Division."

"If it was Twelfth, I think you would know. Did the person have a weird head?" Mochi wrinkled her nose minutely.

"No, but… Do you think we should tell?" Hiyori glanced at some of the half asleep Shinigami-in-training.

"In time," Mochi replied, waving a hand in dismissal while pulling a book out.

Hiyori could only look worriedly back and forth at her friends then at the trees, whispering secrets to each other, concealing the truth behind leaves. Just what was the Hollow? Who was here? Why are the Hollows like this? In what way is the person that she saw related to the Hollow they had killed today? Questions that could only be answered with the rising of the sun, or perhaps the many sunrises after it. Hiyori could only hope that all would end smoothly and peacefully.

"So. Who's up for some ramen?" Saiko pulled a stove out of a convenient hole in the ground, then cups of ramen, "Don't look at me like that. You all know I've got caches everywhere. Jeez."

* * *

A/N: Lame ending, and a whole month or more of waiting. I must apologise to the readers!

I want the readers to read the bit where the Hollow is attacking Kira Saiko again. There's something the Hollow does that... relate... to the plotline. If you can decipher what it is, well then, you'll have an idea on what will happen!

**X. TANgled**


	14. Chapter 13

**AN: **Omg hi, lols. machao here. Also the one who is Akechi Shioru! Hope you enjoy this chapter, and the rest of the fic and continue to read it! ^^ I must also apologise beforehand that my duels/fights don't really make sense. Sorry.

**Chapter 13**

It had already been nine months since the six girls first entered the shinigami academy. It is as they say, time flies by when you're having fun…well, at least it _seemed_ like they were having fun…

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

The class of thirteen was chatting as Meruvo-sensei, their maths teacher, entered the classroom. Nobody gave a damn about the man, so they continued talking.

"Good morning class," declared Meruvo. They were still talking, so they didn't listen to Meruvo. "There will be a maths test next week."

The class shut up.

"Nani!?" cried Tifa. "I don't wanna study!"

"Nooooo!" shouted Saiko. "That's not fair! Aren't we supposed to get two weeks notice on this?"

Meruvo shrugged. "Now, the topics of this test will include inequations, co-ordinate geometry…"

"So, I'm screwed…" said Shioru with a sigh that was touched with a hint of sadness.

"You're screwed," replied Hoshika who was smirking as she leant back in her chair.

"Don't you care about the test, Hoshi-hoshi?" asked Hiyori, with a concerned expression.

"Nah, am I supposed to? It's not like we need good academic marks to become a shinigami. Besides, most us are capable of thinking logically anyway—"

Hoshika was cut off by one of Mochi's shifty coughs. No one knew if she was actually coughing or faking it.

"Are you sure Hoshika? Look at Saiko," said Mochi unemotionally whilst reading one of her books.

Hoshika and Hiyori looked at Saiko, who was flailing about and cursing a bit because she was pissed off about the maths test. Meruvo silenced this when he yelled out, "URUSAI!" Miraculously, Saiko actually obeyed.

"We shall have a _quick_ quiz. This will be revision for your exam. I'm sure this class will kick butt with the amazing marks you children achieve!" Meruvo was beaming, he must have been very proud of the class.

The class finally lowered their voices as Meruvo wrote up the first tedious question on the blackboard.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

School life for shinigami was quite the same as students in high schools. Mathematics, Science, English etc are all subjects in the Shinigami Academy. But it was zanjutsu, kidou, hakuda and shunpo that were the 'core subjects' as one would say in the real world. These 'subjects' are the most important, because they are used the most once the shinigami-in-training graduate. So obviously, someone professional teaches them.

Sanada Genichirou. No one liked him. He was an aggro, strict, mean, annoying, short-tempered, middle aged man. And he was the teacher of the six girls and their classmates. But nevertheless, he did try to teach the children and incorporate his years of experience into their training lessons.

"Class. We will be having a small test on the four combat techniques," stated Sanada.

"Nooooo! And we have a maths common too!" the class moaned and exchanged looks that were better suited to the doomed.

"YES, WHAT FUN!" another of their classmate, Toshiie, whooped in joy.

"You loser!" Saiko yelled back. She grabbed Hiyori's sloth pencil case and lobbed it at Toshiie's head.

"My pencil case!!" cried Hiyori. She got up and went to retrieve her pencil case, which was behind Toshiie's seat.

"QUIET! Ri, return to your seat!" shouted Sanada. He held a little more respect from the class than Meruvo did, but it still wasn't much.

"Sanada's giving us exams at this time of year. A bit early don't you think? It seems things are getting hurried along…" muttered Shioru.

"I guess you were right then, Shioru. Maybe they _are_ going to graduate us sooner," whispered Mochi.

"Oh, so we're all gonna pass the tests anyway, we don't really need to try hard or practise for these tests," said Hoshika, overhearing the conversation.

"Well then, I'll just continue reading my book," said Mochi, and thus the conversation between the three calmer people of the group concluded.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was raining outside. Another day in the shinigami-in-trainings lives. But today, they had a zanjutsu test.

"Students, please pair up. Each pair will have a duel with the bokuto as I call out your names. This is a test on your techniques and ability to fight with a sword. I will call upon your pair to stop when I have finished marking," explained Sanada. "Any questions?"

"What happens to the one who doesn't have a partner?" asked Shioru. There were only thirteen in the class, so Shioru was curious.

"They can duel with me."

A couple of 'oh snap's and 'better get a partner fast' could be heard. Sanada sat down in a chair holding a pen and his mark book ready.

"I'll just do this alphabetically. Akechi Shioru. Who is your partner?" asked Sanada as he looked at the girl. _Damn it, why does my last name have to start with an 'A'?_

"It's Tifa Yuri," replied Shioru. She and Tifa rose from their seats and walked towards the bokuto stands. Tifa grabbed a bokuto, which she thought fitted her nicely. Shioru couldn't care less, so she pulled a random bokuto out, leaving the wooden sheath on the rack.

"Sensei, why don't we get to use our own swords? Some of us have already awakened our zanpakutou!" asked Tifa. You see, she was rather eager to try Hyosesu(1) on something.

"Might I like to remind you that your zanpakutou is metal, Yuri-san?" replied Sanada rather sarcastically. This was rather unusual, Sanada was never the type to make a joke or even say something sarcastically. Tifa hung her head in sorrow. The two took their positions facing each other. "I will stop the spar when I have marked both of you. Don't forget to bow."

Tifa bowed properly while Shioru flopped forward before standing back up straight. _Bowing is so gay. _She held the sword in her right hand and rested the wooden blade in her left.

"Let's go!" shouted Tifa. She whipped the sword out of the sheath and threw it backwards so that it wouldn't interfere with the battle.

"OWWW!" shouted Saiko. The sheath had made contact with her forehead, leaving a large red mark across her forehead. "Do you mind?"

Tifa laughed at the sight. "Ehehe, sorry…" she said nervously after she had stopped laughing.

Shioru shook her head at her partner. "Have some respect for school property." She glanced at Sanada. He didn't say anything at all about the incident. _What's up with him?_

"Three…two…one…" shouted Sanada.

"Here we go," muttered Shioru as they charged forward. The swords clashed and they struggled to force the other backwards. Tifa released the deadlock and slashed at Shioru. Shioru parried the attack, deflecting the sword aside so that she could slice at Tifa who was unprotected. Tifa, with her quick moves, stepped backwards and brought her sword back to block Shioru's swipe.

Their duel continued on for a while. Tifa was quick, but her techniques were not as good as Shioru, who had good accuracy, but was not as fast. Tifa stepped back as Shioru aimed a swipe at her feet. She then slashed upwards, but it did not hit Tifa. Shioru decided to step forward so that she could get closer to Tifa and feinted to the right. Tifa moved her blade to stop the attack, but realised it was a feint when Shioru moved to the left instead; grabbing Tifa's left hand with some kind of arm lock in the process. Tifa seemed to recognise what her partner was doing so she swiped at Shioru's back with her bokuto. Shioru blocked the attack just in time, by holding her sword behind her, conveniently deflecting Tifa's blade away from her. She gripped her bokuto tightly, twisted around while holding onto Tifa's arm and slashed down.

"MY ARM!!" shrieked Tifa as the wooden sword hit her somewhere between her elbow and shoulder.

"That's enough. Please return to your seats. Next…Kanda Mochi and your partner," said Sanada. His tone was the same; it had not changed.

"Be glad the sword was made out of wood," said Shioru as she replaced the bokuto into its sheath. Tifa had to retrieve her sheath from Saiko, which proved difficult.

"Did you have to hit so hard, Shioru? I think I'll get a bruise there…" complained Tifa.

Shioru shrugged a reply as she grabbed her water bottle and took a swig. Saiko stated, that if Tifa wanted to retrieve the sheath, it was required that she bow down and grovel before Saiko. Tifa refused because she had a greater sense of dignity than that. Fortunately for her, Saiko shoved it back into Tifa's hands because the duel between Mochi and Hiyori was about to start.

The two had abandoned their sheaths on the floor, bowed to each other properly and took their stance. Mochi held her bokuto with two hands in front of her, poised, ready to unleash an attack whenever they were ready.

"Three…two…one…Go!" shouted Sanada.

"You start," said Mochi, intending to give Hiyori a 'head start'.

"No…you start," replied Hiyori nervously. She was worried because she wasn't that great at zanjutsu and really didn't want to screw up in front of the class, especially since Sanada was actually marking this time. The two seemed to have ignored Sanada's 'three, two, one'.

"_Start_," said Mochi forcefully, emphasising the single word.

"No, no, why don't you just start?" continued Hiyori. If she started, where would she hit? Better off Mochi attack and she defend.

"GO!" yelled Sanada.

Mochi growled. If Hiyori didn't want a head start, then Mochi would just have to take the initiative. She tightened her grip on her bokuto and launched herself towards Hiyori. Mochi started the sparring with a sideways slash. Hiyori blocked the attack and swung her sword at Mochi in return. Sidestepping the attack, Mochi held her bokuto overhead and slashed downwards, a common and useful technique in kendo. Hiyori, having no time to jump away, brought her sword up to meet Mochi's. She held the bokuto in both hands, firmly clasping the hilt. Unfortunately, Mochi's sword was on top, pushing down on Hiyori's bokuto with more force, for the forces of gravity were on her side. Mochi ended up winning the mini sword wrestle. She had pushed Hiyori's sword away during the deadlock and taking the advantage, Mochi lifted her sword up, the tip of the wooden sword at Hiyori's neck.

"Thank you. Return to your seats," called out Sanada. "Kira Saiko and friend, up!" The way he said the sentence, there was a slight hint of annoyance. No doubt he was afraid of what would happen if Saiko and Hoshika were to fight each other.

"And friend…?" muttered Hoshika.

"Obviously you are not important," replied Saiko as she ripped a bokuto out of its sheath. She chucked the sheath onto the wooden floor, making a loud and hollow sound. She kicked it, and grinned insolently at Shioru.

"Have some respect for school property!" cried Shioru. _Man, no one cared did they?_

"True, but are you really the one to be saying that. You do destroy those kidou target boards quite often," commented Hoshika, holding her bokuto loosely to the right.

"Oh my god, I totally screwed up didn't I? What did I do wrong? Ahhh, I failed!!! Oh no!" ranted Hiyori. Was it just her, or did she and Mochi's duel end quicker than the others?

"Oh shut up, fail," replied Mochi.

"Don't call me fail! I―" Hiyori was cut off by Sanada's voice.

"Ready? Three...t―"

A deafening yell erupted, filling the training hall with the noise. Saiko, not caring about Sanada or bowing, charged forward, her sword held out behind her as she hollered.

"Damn the person who gave you vocal cords!" shouted Hoshika over the racket as she braced herself for Saiko's incoming attack. Their swords connected and Hoshika was driven backwards by Saiko's force. Saiko pushed herself off the clash and charged again, whacking whatever part of Hoshika she saw fit. All Hoshika could do was block Saiko's psychotic flurry of slashes. It wasn't an easy job. One attack landed on her arm and then another on her leg as Hoshika's guard seemed to have failed against Saiko's offence. With one last effort, Hoshika was able to block Saiko's next attack. She kicked Saiko in the stomach just as she blocked.

"Oww, not fair man, I thought this was supposed to be a zanjutsu test!" asked Saiko, gripping her stomach. What would happen to the remains of the ramen she had consumed?

"And I thought fighting consisted of both," replied Hoshika. Saiko seemed to have recovered from the attack very fast. She attacked her partner again, an overhead slash at Hoshika's head. Hoshika blocked the attack by ducking under the blade and lifted a hand to Saiko's hilt, stopping Saiko's downward motion. Quickly, and hopefully before Saiko could react, Hoshika moved her right hand away from the sword's hilt and it snaked towards Saiko's wrists. Hoshika gripped Saiko's wrists together; it would keep Saiko from attacking her with the dangerous wooden weapon. Hoshika smirked as she was about to slash at Saiko with the bokuto in her left hand. _Finally, it's about time I actually win against Saiko._

"Tootsies!" said Saiko with an evil grin. She had stomped on Hoshika's foot. It looked painful, and Hoshika's facial expression showed everything. "Did you forget that I have feet?"

"Shit!" Hoshika swore, followed by a groan of pain. "I was so _close_!" Still, Hoshika managed to ignore the pain and moved to land another kick on Saiko. But just as she was about to lift her foot, she hesitated. _Maybe I shouldn't kick so much. After all, it is a zanjutsu test._ But her slight hesitation was all Saiko needed. She landed an attack on Hoshika. With an injured foot, Hoshika couldn't maintain her balance, so Saiko's swipe knocked her over. Saiko stretched out her hands above her as a sign that she had won.

"You will never win, because I am the ultimate!" blared Saiko, bending from the hip to shout in Hoshika's face. "I WIN!" She spun around and pointed at Sanada. "You better give me better marks than her!"

Sanada _smiled._ Maybe it was because the two misfits didn't create a riot during or after their duel. That was an achievement. "Put the swords back and sit back down. Maybe you should help Wakanao."

Saiko looked over to a limping Hoshika, slowly making her way to the bokuto stand. "Nah, she'll live."

"Can I get an ice pack?" Hoshika asked Sanada. Sanada looked the girl up and down before nodding.

"Go to the fourth division, they have better things than ice packs there," said Sanada. He eyed the other five girls of the friendship group. "Maybe you all want to go. You've all finished your duels, correct?"

"Yes," they answered in unison. Sanada waved a hand to dismiss them. The six girls filed out of the training hall towards the fourth division.

"Thanks, Sanada-sensei," said Shioru who was last to leave the hall. Sanada nodded in acknowledgement before turning back to the remainder of the class.

"Sashimoto Toshiie and partner, please come up," called out Sanada.

Yeah, he was happy. Maybe he finally realised the class did have the potential to graduate in one year and not get killed on their first mission. Well, hopefully.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

After a few moments of mindless walking, Tifa asked, an exasperated expression on her face, "Where _is_ the fourth division?"

"This is all _your_ fault, Hoshika! It's all because you wanted a freaking ice pack for your foot. We're lost now!" ranted Saiko, shoving Hoshika.

"Oi, how is this my fault? I think _you_ were the one who stomped on my foot!" Hoshika shouted back in return.

"Shut up or I'll stomp on your other foot!"

They continued to walk aimlessly. In what direction were they supposed to go anyway?

"We should ask someone…" said Hiyori, looking around. Sadly, there didn't seem to be anyone around. And just at that point, a shinigami entered their surroundings. He, well, it looked like a he, was heading their direction.

"Hey, shinigami-san!" called out Shioru to the man. Slowly, the man turned around.

"Was that to me, or to the rest of the shinigami in Soul Society?" he asked.

"To you of course, do you see anyone else?" It was Mochi who replied, how very unusual. The next thing they knew was that the man had flash stepped over to them.

"Can I help you?" asked the man. He had a blue stripe _and_ a 69 tattooed into his face. Not to mention three deep scars going down his right eye! With all the tattoos and scars on his face, he looked rather daunting. But Mochi was undaunted; her expression did not change.

"Do you know where the fourth division is?" she asked.

"Why yes, and I'm heading there too," he replied.

"Wow, what a coincidence!" speaking in an exaggerated tone, Tifa appeared to be implying that the man had some sort of ulterior intentions.

"Yes, such a coincidence. My captain got injured, he's there recuperating. Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself to you trainees," he said, seeing their red shihakusho. "I'm Hisagi Shuuhei, lieutenant of the ninth division." He put his hands in his pockets, as if to dig out name cards with all his details on it. But sadly, they do not exist in Soul Society. "Let's go." The six girls trailed after the lieutenant towards fourth division.

"How did your captain get hurt?" asked Mochi. She was attempting to start conversation with Hisagi. It was very strange though, since Mochi wasn't the type to bother communicating unnecessarily.

"Somehow, he wounded himself on a sightseeing trip," said Hisagi, adding a slightly shifty cough after saying so.

"Oh, ok," replied Mochi. None of them realised how weird it was for the captain of the ninth division to go on a sightseeing trip. None of them knew who the hell Kaname Tousen was.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

The group returned home. Everyone was well, except for Hoshika who ended up with a bound foot instead on an ice pack. She was much less important to the rest of the patients, so no one in the fourth division was bothered to use their healing powers on the girl.

"That Hisagi guy was pretty cool," said Mochi. Another praise to the man, she sure seemed to like him.

"People who tattoo themselves have serious issues," commented Shioru. Yes, she was very against tattoos, it was unnatural.

"Don't you think they ruined his face?" asked Hiyori.

"No, he looks perfectly fine to me. On the other hand, your face is ruined by your stupidity Bakari," replied Mochi, jumping instantly to defend Hisagi from all those comments.

"Ahem, attention all, I believe that I must declare that Mochi Kanda likes tattoo face man dude!" Saiko stood up and spoke in what she may have hoped was an official and snooty voice. Mochi simply glared at them all.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shioru turned under her blanket.

"Hey, Shioru? Your Fi Fi's on the floor," Tifa called from the other side of their rather small, shared room. She was talking about the abandoned teddy bear on the cold wooden floor. There was no answer, so Tifa assumed Shioru had already fallen asleep.

But Shioru had not fallen asleep. Her eyes were wide open, staring straight at the wall. She had blacked out. Or was it her soul that was somewhere else?

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

The sounds of flowing water and trees swaying in the wind reached Shioru's ears. She struggled to open her groggy eyes open. The first thing she saw was… well, trees. It was expected, considering what Shioru had heard. There were lots of trees, all different sizes and types. Most of them were tall pines lavished with lush green leaves. And in the background was a blank night sky. No moon and no stars sadly.

She sat up and looked around, her eyes no longer bleary. Despite it being nighttime, she could see everything, even the individual branches and leaves of tree. There was a slow flowing river to the right, cutting through a thick wall of trees. Shioru was sitting on soft grass and leaf litter was scattered on the ground.

_What's this, some kind of clearing in the middle of a forest with a river? Well, it is pretty peaceful and quiet. No Saiko yelling, what joy._

Shioru stood up slowly and realised there was a light sprinkle of falling rain, but she hardly felt it. A sudden gentle wind blew through and Shioru turned around.

A large wolf, its fur ruffled with infinite shades of grey stepped out of the shadows of the dark forest. Its intense golden eyes locked with Shioru's own strikingly similar ones. A random image of the big bad wolf blowing down a house was suddenly conjured up in Shioru's mind, but she quickly pushed it away. No, this was a very different wolf; it looked intelligent and… vicious. Shioru shuffled back a little, attempting to get some distance between herself and the animal. Instinctively, her hand went for the zanpakutou strapped to the side of her waist. But there was nothing there. She had no weapon to defend herself with. The wolf kept its eyes locked with Shioru's. It stepped forward as she stepped back.

_Oh my god, it's a wolf, oh my god, I'm going to die. Where the hell is my zanpakutou? Shit, shit, it's gonna freaking eat me. Look at those big teeth holy crap, shit! _

That was all Shioru could think of as she tried to move back further. She glanced behind her. Her way was barred by the river. It didn't seem deep, maybe she could…

All her thoughts were cut short as the wolf launched itself towards her. Shioru opened her mouth and tried to let loose a silent scream. She was too stunned to do anything but crouch down and cover her head with her forearms. As if it would save her from the wolf. But nothing ever came. Slowly, she crawled out of her 'hiding place', which were her arms, and looked at the wolf. It stood tall and grand in front of her.

"You are indeed pathetic. I can't believe I'm partnered with you," growled the wolf. Shioru continued to stare at the wolf.

"You can talk," stated Shioru.

"I wonder what I'm doing right now?" asked the wolf sarcastically. "I'd rather you not state the obvious, kid."

It took all of Shioru's effort not to talk back. Important questions needed to be asked first.

"Are you a werewolf?"

"Despite the fact that I can talk, I do not transform into a human being at full moon. Did that disappoint you?"

"Oh, of course not. So…where am I?" asked Shioru. She had finally started to lose the feeling of being threatened by the wolf and felt a little at ease, just a little.

The wolf sighed at her question. "I would've thought you'd already know about the zanpakutou and how it works."

It was that one sentence which sparked a chain of thoughts in Shioru's mind. "Ah, you're my zanpakutou's true form, and you'll help me achieve my shikai and all that stuff and this world was created from my soul and you're a part of me, right?" said Shioru, all in one sentence. She was just relaying what the brain had come up with. The wolf smirked and nodded.

"All of that was correct. Except for the 'you're a part of me'. I am much more sophisticated than you. I am a god."

If a dramatic sound effect was supposed to enter at that time, it missed its cue. Shioru stared at the wolf as if it had just reeled off the biggest load of bullshit ever. "A god? Are you kidding me? Ahahaha, you're just a doggy!" The wolf's eyes seemed to flash with anger. It growled at Shioru, a sure sign that it was pissed. Suddenly, it charged Shioru and head butted her in the stomach, with far more force than one would expect such an animal to impart. The attack caught her off guard and the force made her skid across the ground. Shioru went flying head over heels into the river.

She'd been expecting the water to be icy cold as when she hit the water. But instead, the water was welcoming and she didn't feel cold at all. Shioru's head broke the surface. Droplets of water rolled off her face, her hair was dripping and her clothes were drenched.

"What the hell was that for you bastard dog?!" yelled Shioru, blazing with anger.

"Number one, _no one_,and I mean no one, are allowed to call me doggy or dog. I am a god, the great wolf god Ookami! I―"

"Ookami? Well, guess what, I don't believe you! Weren't you born from my soul?" asked Shioru. Gosh, this wolf was hallucinating and dreaming that he was a god. The wolf's head drooped a little.

"I was once a god."

"Ah, there we go!"

"Shut up, do not speak out of turn. I am just as grand as I was then. I was reincarnated to become your zanpakutou soul. And I do not lie; I was indeed a god when I was still the roaming the lands. Now I am locked here, as part of you…HAVE YOU BEEN LISTENING TO ME?" The wolf's voice rose to a loud shout as it saw Shioru climb out of the river.

"Of course I have, I heard your creative little story and―" Before Shioru could say anymore, the wolf shoved her back into the river again.

"Do you want your zanpakutou? Do you want to wield me?" barked the wolf harshly, like a trainer.

"Yeah, I guess," said Shioru as if she couldn't care less. The wolf narrowed its eyes at Shioru.

"See the waterfall at the end of the river. Swim there, show me you are capable of learning my oh-so-godly name. Swim like you're going for the Beijing Olympic gold!" yelled the wolf.

"Hasn't that already passed?" asked Shioru, treading water. It didn't seem like the wolf would let her out anytime.

"What are you talking about?"

Shioru thought for a moment. "I don't know."

"How nice. Shut up and swim, kid," growled the wolf. Shioru looked at the river. The current was against her, but it was very gentle, Shioru believed she could get past it easily. She was a pretty good swimmer after all.

Shioru propelled herself into the water, towards the waterfall. She gained quite a bit of distance in the first few strokes. But as she swam farther up, the current got stronger and she had to fight against it. Each stroke got more and more difficult as she went. The wolf was pacing along the bank, watching Shioru struggle in the river. Shioru was gaining less and less distance each time she lifted her arm up and plunged it into the water. The current was getting stronger and stronger. And to make it worse, the wolf started mocking her.

"You are _sooo_ slow. I guess I'll just have make myself walk slower to match your speed," said the wolf. It started to slowly stretch one of its forelegs in front of the other, pacing at snail pace. Still, it managed to overtake Shioru in the river. "You really are pathetic, kid." It shook its head at her making a show of how disappointed he was in her. "I'll meet you at the end."

"What if I drown?" spluttered Shioru who resorted to doggy paddling in the river.

"Well, I guess you die then. Logical isn't it?" Without another word, the wolf bounded off into the trees and disappeared.

_Stupid, retarded, hallucinating wolf! _

Shioru used up all her strength to try and move from her position. By doing that, she managed to stay in the same position in the river. But as her strength dwindled, the current swept her back. To the irritated Shioru, this current would be taking her back to the start. All her hard work would've been for nothing. She slapped the water, helpless against the current. "Damn wolf, damn river, damn current, why can't it change directions?" she yelled. As if answering her call, the current changed directions and it gently carried Shioru to her destination. _How nice, it seems the river is doing by bidding. Dammit, I wasted my time trying to swim!_ She climbed out of the river, the water helping her up. Shioru walked through the waterfall, the gushing water crashed down on her, but it too felt like it was welcoming her to their realm. Her eyes immediately picked up a sword stuck in a pile of rocks. The blade of the sword was slightly wider than the hilt, which was wrapped in a navy blue, bandages. There was no cross guard, which was rather unusual. Shioru broke into a grin. Her zanpakutou waiting just for her. She wrapped her hand around the hilt. The stones turned into water and pooled on the ground as Shioru pulled the sword out. As she pulled it out, the sword glowed and transformed. It got longer, much longer. Something like double the length of the sword she had first laid her hands on. The blade thinned, its width now the same as the hilt that was covered in the same blue bandages. Down the middle of the blade was a blood channel. They let blood flow off the blade quicker so that it won't spray blood every time you swing it.

_My zanpakutou, my shikai…_

"Oh wow, you're finally here! And I was here…like what, five hours ago?" exaggerated the wolf. "So, what were we doing again? I see you got your sword."

"Short term memory loss…" muttered Shioru. But being a wolf, the wolf picked that up easily.

"I heard that."

"Well, you're supposed to tell me your name. Or was it Ookami?"

"Ookami was my name then. My name now is…bow down before me and ask for my godly name and I shall tell you."

Shioru looked at the wolf in a 'WTF' fashion. "Hey, why do I have to do this crap? Didn't you say you would tell me your name when I got here?"

"I never did," the wolf said simply. "And I'm not lying."

Shioru glared at the wolf before taking a moment to compose herself. "Oh _great_ and _godly_ wolf! Pray tell me, what is your name oh great wolf god!" 

_Oh…my…god…I cannot believe I just said that!_

The wolf grinned its sly wolfy grin, its sharp, ivory teeth showing as it did so. "That's more like it. You should show me more respect kid. So, my name, huh? It's…"

Just when the wolf was about to say its name, a gale blew. It was so sudden and strong, it swept Shioru back through the waterfall and threw her into the river. She yelped, what kind of wind was this? Still gripping her long zanpakutou, she plunged into the darkness of the river and everything turned black as she was whisked out of her supposed, 'own world'.

The wolf sauntered to the riverbank and looked into the dark depths. The depth of the river changed depending on Shioru's amount of knowledge and connection with her zanpakutou's soul. The more she grew with the wolf, the deeper the river would grow.

"Karyuudo(2)," growled the wolf huskily, staring at its own reflection in the dark waters. Hopefully Shioru had heard that.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shioru's woke up from her dream. Weird, her eyes had been open for the duration of her encounter with the wolf…or should she say, Karyuudo? Her eyes felt dry and she blinked a couple of times to get a bit of moisture back.

Then she noticed the smell of her kasutera wafting towards her.

_Oh, my sweet, lovely kasutera._ Shioru took a deep breath through her noise. Her sense of smell had been heightened! And it seemed her hearing had been heightened too; she could hear Tifa's soft breathing when she couldn't before. _How am I going to sleep now?_

"Karyuudo," muttered Shioru, so as to not wake Tifa up. Unlike Tifa, she did not wake up the whole world upon obtaining her zanpakutou.

"'_Su__p kid?" asked Karyuudo._

"Why…with all these sudden changes…" Shioru ran her tongue along her teeth while thinking and she realised that even her teeth had changed. They were sharper! "My teeth too!"

"_Our encounter made us similar. You have realised that our eyes are quite the same haven't you?"_

"_This is so weird! Am I gonna start growing a tail too?" answered Shioru in her thoughts._

"_Oh yeah, totally," replied Karyuudo sarcastically, in response to Shioru's __own__ sarcastic question._

Shioru pulled her blanket over her head and tried to sleep. No help, Tifa's breathing and the beautiful kasutera smell kept distracting her. "Screw this." Shioru tossed her blanket to the side and got up. _I'm not going to get _any_ sleep at this rate._ Shioru made her way to the kitchen in darkness. Her ability to see in the dark had also increased, like how it had when she was in her own world. She grabbed her cup from the rack and reached for the water jug. As she was about to fill it up with the water, she felt her cup had gotten heavy already! Shioru looked at the contents inside her cup. There was water already, before she had poured, and the cup was hanging upside down when she had taken it. _What…the…_ She drained the water and as she stared at the cup, she willed water to fill it again. Indeed, water filled the cup to the brim. _Ah, how very interesting. It seems I have power over water now. No wonder there was a river _and_ a waterfall in my dream._

With all those sudden changes, Shioru had forgotten to check on her new zanpakutou. It lay sheathed on her bedside drawer. It had transformed from the carbon copy, into the zanpakutou she had seen stuck in the pile of rocks in her dream. Shioru took hold of the hilt and slid the sword out of its new deep sea-blue sheath. The blade was shining silver as the moonlight coming through the window reflected against it. She shoved it back into its sheath and placed it on the table once again.

"_Not going to practise with it?" asked Karyuudo._

"_Nah, I'm not bothered."_

Shioru grabbed a warm cloak and a bucket that was propped up against her wardrobe. Quietly, she walked across the floor to their storeroom and collected what she needed.

"_Where are you going?" asked Karyuudo. _

"I'll do some night fishing," said Shioru to Karyuudo, but as always, it sounded like she was talking to herself. Wait, wasn't Karyuudo herself too? She grabbed her trusty fishing rod, stepped into her shinigami sandals and left the rickety old house.

"_I'll give you something to do that would be __more__ fun__," said__ Karyuudo._

"_What?" replied Shioru via thought._ It was weird having another voice in your mind.

"_Go stalk the shadows…"(3)_

"_What…that's gay."_

(1) Hyosesu is Tifa's zanpakutou.

(2)Karyuudo means Hunter.

(3) I know, weird eh? Well, it'll come up as to why I put that in the later chapters!

Shioru's zanpakutou in shikai form is very long, Sephiroth style. I hope you know what a blood channel is. But when the zanpakutou is in its sealed form, it is half the length and the blade's width widens a bit. And about my zanpakutou's true form being a god's reincarnation, I know it sounds absurd, doesn't make sense and doesn't flow with the Bleach concept…I just felt like it so that it could be a reason as to why the wolf is so arrogant. I'm sorry if I screwed up the zanpakutou concept, but this is a story so…yeah. ^^ I'm just weird, please don't blame me. Well, you can if you want.

Anyways, Read and review please. Any comments, especially on my zanpakutou, please do so! And the duels. They failed didn't they?


	15. Chapter 14

A/N: Ok so it's been a while~ I apologise for the late chapter, but fanfic author's have lives too you know (*cough* some do anyway) In case you've forgotten, it's GeNoWaFeR here and enjoy!

**Chapter 14**

Groaning and covering her ears, Hiyori rolled over in bed, trying to block out the sound of her "Ohayo Nippon" alarm clock.

"Gah! Make it stop!" Hiyori shouted down below to where Mochi's bed was.

There was no response and Hiyori realised she had probably already left the dorm to do whatever she did so early in the morning every day.

Reluctantly, Hiyori reached over to hit the snooze button on her clock. She sat upright in bed with a sinking feeling in her stomach. Today was the day of the kidou test. She knew she was going to fail the zanjutsu test because one, she sucked at offence, and two, she was partnered with Mochi. But she never really sucked at kidou. She was quite good, even if she wasn't the best, or so she thought, and hopefully, that would be enough to make up for her zanjutsu mark.

"I better not make a fool of myself like I did yesterday," Hiyori sighed and clambered out of bed and down the steps of her loft.

* * *

"So class, today is, as I had mentioned earlier, the day for our kidou test. Yesterday we had our zanjutsu test to which some performed exceptionally well. I hope to see a similar sort of result today. I assume you have all been practicing hard?"

"Yes," mumbled the class in answer to Sanada-sensei's inquiry.

Shioru had a look of determination on her face in stark contrast to Hiyori's pale and worried face.

"Get ready to be OWNED again!" Saiko shouted at Hoshika, pointing dramatically and flailing in blatant disregard of the fact she was sitting right next to her.

"Honestly, you need to shut up. I am but right next to you," Hoshika replied calmly, only glancing sideways at her.

"Silence! I am sick and tired of you two carrying on like a married old couple. Now Tifa, would you mind bringing out the target boards? They should be just behind that door. Shioru, go help her," ordered Sanada.

While Shioru and Tifa were getting the boards, Sanada handed out a slip of paper to everyone.

"I have separated you into two groups. You will come up in your groups and perform a kidou spell of your choice. Be sure to perform one with a reasonable level of difficulty so I can see what you are capable of. Keeping that in mind, also make sure you are confident with the spell you choose as not only will I mark you on difficulty, I will be looking carefully at how well you execute it," Sanada said in an authoritative voice as he pulled up a chair to sit on.

Everyone in the class glanced down at the paper in front of them.

"Hey, Mochi, which group are you in?" Hiyori asked.

"Group two."

"Me too!" exclaimed Hiyori happily.

"I'm in group two too," Shioru, who just finished getting the target boards, said as she sat down.

"Damn! We're up against Shioru," Tifa groaned.

"Class, might I stress that although I have placed you in groups, it does not mean that you are up against each other. It is simply a way for me to mark you all quickly and efficiently. So do not get worked up about the thought of competing against each other," Sanada said quickly.

"Too late," said Shioru as she glanced across the room at where Hoshika and Saiko sat.

"Looks like we're in the same group, Hoshika," Saiko dragged the last syllable out with a mixture of excitement and contempt in her voice.

"Che. It's about time you realised who the better one is," Hoshika replied in her I'm-just-too-cool-for-you voice.

"Be quiet!" ordered Sanada as Saiko opened her mouth to retort, a fist already raised. "It's time to start. Group one, if you would come up?"

Those students in group one stood, some hesitantly, other slightly more confident in their performance, and Toshiie, quite comfortable in his skilful splendour, jumped to his feet, and walked quickly to the front of the room. They each performed their chosen kidou spells while Sanada took down notes, and while none were particularly terrible as may have been expected, neither were any particularly impressive. Toshiie, in a hurry to get up there and show the class just who was best, got his hadou spells and bakudou spells mixed up, thus generating an odd mixture of the two which backfired in his face. Shioru had sniggered, but quickly stopped when Sanada threw a particularly severe look at her.

"Group two, if you would please," Sanada said and the last group slowly got up and walked to face their respective target boards.

The six of them had been placed in group three and now stood side by side with their backs to the rest of the class.

"Now, Shioru if you would please perform your chosen kidou spell?" invited Sanada, feeling rather critical of her after hearing her reaction to Toshiie's spell.

Shioru steadied herself and looked firmly at the target in front of her. She recognised it as the one she stole the night before to practice on. She moved her hands to the side of her body, summoning the yellow energy before chanting,

"Way of Destruction, number sixty-three: Thunder Roar Cannon!"

A huge wave of yellow energy sped towards the target board. It consumed the board, turning the coloured rings and white background to charcoal black, despite being designed to tolerate extreme heat and power which kidou spells would often exert.

_Trust Shioru to perform a difficult hadou spell without incantation. Although I must say I'm a little surprised with how well she handled that one. I knew she was good, but I had no idea how much control and focus she could have with a high level spell, _Mochi thought to herself.

With no comment, Sanada proceeded to ask Mochi to perform her chosen spell.

Mochi had chosen carefully and made sure that she was confident with the spell she would perform. She knew that kidou was not her best subject and it was pointless to force herself to perform a difficult spell when she knew she couldn't execute it with perfect control. She lifted her hands and chanted the incantation smoothly before shouting,

"Way of Destruction, number thirty-one: Shot of Red Fire!"

A red ball of energy flew out and hit the target board. The amount of reiatsu focused on it was well measured and Mochi, feeling satisfied with her performance, stood back more comfortable with criticising the performance of everyone else. .

It was Hoshika's turn next. Ignoring Saiko's snide voice, she focused her whole attention on the board in front of her. She had decided to perform a bakudou spell as she felt more confident with them.

Way of Binding, number thirty: Beak-piercing Triple Beam!"

Pointing a finger at the board, Hoshika shot three beams of light at it. All three beams hit the board although the last one had just managed to shove itself into the top corner of the board, right on the edge. Hoshika scowled, knowing she could've done better. The points where it had hit had not formed a perfect equilateral triangle, but were just off.

When it was Tifa's turn, she stood up calmly and faced the target board. With the complete incantation, she yelled,

"Way of Destruction, number fifty-eight: Orchid Sky!"

A mini tornado spun out from her hands which eventually got bigger, slamming her target board and the two next to it into the back wall. Tifa clapped her hands together, glad that she had done the spell so successfully. Sanada sensei made a small note on his clipboard and proceeded to ask Hiyori to perform her spell on a board which had not already been blown away.

Hiyori took a deep breath, eyed the target board and slowly raised her hands.

She articulated each word of the incantation clearly before saying, "Way of Destruction, number fifty-four: Abolishing Flames!"

A purple ball of light was shot from her hands towards the target board and burned at it so fiercely, that it seemed that if it wasn't for the special material it was made out of, it would have incinerated completely.

With another small glance, and note at the clipboard, Sanada sensei turned, gave Saiko a small smile and said, "Your turn Saiko."

Saiko grinned. _It's time for me to kick some ass, _she thought as she turned to face her own target board._Problem is,_ _I'm not good at kidou. Maybe I should do one of the easier ones. Self-control is for losers anyway._

"Way of destruction, number one: Thrust!"

The target board swayed this way and that. After much of Saiko chanting 'Come on! Fall!', the board finally gave way and fell over, creating a cloud of dust around it. "YEAH!" Saiko yelled and pumped her fist in the air above her head.

Hoshika clapped mockingly. "Good job with the easiest hadou spell."

Sanada stared at Saiko, wrote down a short comment before dismissing the class. Maybe kidou just wasn't her thing.

* * *

"Hey guys, what's the quadratic formula again?" Tifa asked in a moaning tone.

"How am I supposed to know? Ask Mochi, the nerd," Hiyori said.

"Seriously guys, how dumb can you get? I bet you're all going to fail this test," Saiko said jeeringly, and stuck her tongue out at all of them..

"Says the one who couldn't spell 'isosceles' in her last test," Hoshika said to her.

"Are you trying to pick a fight with me?" Saiko advanced on Hoshika, putting her fists out in front of her, cracking the knuckles on one as she stepped forward.

"No need to get so worked up," Hoshika smirked at her making the already fuming girl even more annoyed. Saiko flipped her off and made to lock her arm around Hoshika's head.

"Ok guys, seriously, you need to stop pouncing on each other every time, it's getting kind of annoying you know." Mochi looked up from her book.

"Shut up, nerd," Hoshika and Saiko both said to Mochi at the same time, both narrowing their eyes in uncanny synchrony.

"I'm not a nerd, I'm just calm and composed," Mochi retorted, not in the slightest put off.

"More like boring," whispered Tifa behind her back.

"I hate Meruvo sensei! He's such a horrible git for springing a test on us!" Hiyori grumbled.

For the next twenty minutes, the six shinigami were quiet as they studied for their maths test. Hiyori, who was getting bored, looked out the window and saw the end of a haori disappear behind the trees.

_That figure seems really familiar. I can sort of sense a familiar reiatsu as well._

She dwelled on this thought for a considerable amount of time, staring out the window and racking her brains for their identity. Then it came to her. The haori she saw the other day when they fought the hollow. She glanced at Mochi, wondering if she had seen it too, but even if she had, she wasn't showing it.

"Hey guys, I'm going out for some fresh air, I'll be back soon, okay?" Hiyori stood up and made her way to the door.

She saw Mochi raising an eyebrow at her sudden decision and considered asking her to come too.

Suddenly, another memory came to the fore of her mind.

"_...Do you think we should tell?"_

"_In time."_

Hiyori stood, hesitating. _I don't think Mochi cared too much about what I saw. It might be for the best if I check it out first. What if it's all a misunderstanding and Mochi gets pissed at me for making a big deal out of it? Then what? Oh, forget it; __I'm going__ to let her find out __by__ herself._

Hiyori closed the door softly behind her and ran out to where she saw the flash of the haori disappear. She decided to walk further into the wood to see if she could find out who the mysterious man was. She heard a rustling sound somewhere ahead and ran towards it. The further she ran, the more thickly wooded it became. Soon, there was hardly a path; only crushed leaves and snapped twigs marked where others had been and along this Hiyori treaded carefully. Suddenly, she lost her footing upon a stray rock and fell down on her face. _Ouch_, she thought before beginning to feel somewhat faint, and just before she closed her eyes, she saw a pair of sandals and the glint of glasses in the sunlight above her. Her consciousness left her and she saw no more.

The figure that stood in front of her body looked down at the shinigami and smirked. _Another stupid one, eh?_

* * *

The sun was shining brightly, in an uncomfortably hot manner, making her feel like fire was engulfing her.

"Yah, pull down the blinds Mochi!" Hiyori shouted covering her eyes with her arm.

The heat wouldn't stop.

"Pull down the freaking blinds already!!"

Slowly, Hiyori's eyes opened. There was no Mochi and she was not in her room.

_Where am I?_

All she could see was bright yellow and orange flames, and it felt like she was standing amongst those flames. But the strangest thing was, it didn't burn her and slowly, she grew accustomed to the heat.

"Wow, do I have like super-powered, non-melting skin or something now?" Hiyori said, looking at her arms.

"You do know that talking to yourself is the first sign of madness?" A mellow and cheerful voice spoke, sounding as if it came from no specific place.

"What? Who said that?" Hiyori looked around but there was nobody.

"Me," the voice replied simply.

"Me? Who's me?"

"You? You're you."

"I know that! I **me**an, '**me**' as in, when you said '**me**', who did you **me**an," Hiyori replied. "Gosh that was a mouthful," she added as an afterthought.

"You're good, but I can do better," the mellow voice came again, drifting around her. "When I said 'you', what I actually meant was 'you' as in, when you had said 'me', what you meant by saying 'me' was actually 'you', that is in the sense of when I say it, it is 'you'."

"Wha…What…" Hiyori was lost for words.

"Gotcha," the voice came again, tinged with glee.

"This is pointless. Okay, ignore everything I just said and answer this question straight on. Who are you and where are you?"

"Did you want me to answer 'who are you' first or 'where are you'?" The voice almost seemed to be mocking her.

"JUST ANSWER ME!" Hiyori was getting impatient.

"Okay, okay, keep your shirt on. I'll answer the second question first: I'm here."

As soon as the word 'here' sounded, a figure materialised in front of her. It was a tall man with shiny teeth dressed in a shiny suit. He looked like he had jumped out of a toothpaste ad and the twinkle in this eye only added to that. He had a small dimple on his cheek which made him appear to be smiling all the time and on his arm…

"A burn-scar! _My_ burn-scar!" Hiyori looked down at her own right arm where she had burnt herself in the accident that happened with her firecrackers so long ago. Looking between her arm and his, she was sure that what appeared to be the same scar was visible on the man's left arm.

"How did you…" Hiyori started to ask but trailed away.

"It's a long and tragic story about the time when I was only 3039 years old and I…" The man had now donned a depressed expression and was watching his feet as he toed the ground.

"On second thoughts, don't tell me," Hiyori grumbled.

"Suit yourself."

"You haven't answered my first question yet. What's your name?" Hiyori inquired again.

"Davide's[1] my name and lame puns are my game!" He put on a cheesy grin with his thumb and index finger positioned under his chin, looking like a failed stand up comedian.

"Davide? Ok…so err, Davide-san, what are you exactly?" Hiyori asked, deliberately ignoring the second half of his sentence.

"What am I? Well isn't that rude. But if you must know, I'm you." He answered and watched for her reaction.

"Not this again… just tell me, what are you?" Starting to get annoying with his extremely roundabout manner of speaking, Hiyori glared at him as she spoke.

"I'm you." He answered again simply.

"What do you mean, 'I'm you'?" Hiyori was starting to get quite well and truly annoyed.

"Well strictly speaking, I'm not actually you because if I were you I would not be in a separate body, thank god for that. But in the real word, or rather, your real world, I live inside your mind so in that sense, yes I am you," he answered, apparently still unwilling to explain fully who and what he was.

"So why, why have I never met you or felt you in my mind before?"

"Well, you have, you just haven't noticed it. What do you think it is that gives you such a flair for awesome puns?" He grinned again as he said this, hoping for some laughs.

"Err…I'd like to think that that's my own talent, thanks." Hiyori folded her arms before she asked, "So what am I supposed to do here?"

"Well, you'll have to wield me of course."

"Wield you?"

"You have chosen me to be your zanpakutou anyway, so I suppose, yes, it would be nice if you were to wield me." His tone had turned to sarcasm,.

"Err…what do I do? To err…wield you," Hiyori asked uncertainly.

"It's actually really simple, just find me and I'll tell you how.'

"Find you? What do you mean? But you're right—", before Hiyori could finish her sentence, the man was gone.

"What? Now what am I supposed to do?"

As soon as the words came out of her mouth, the smoke cleared up. She was standing on solid ground and in front of her, a long staircase that seemed to reach up forever had materialised.

_You're joking. I have to climb all that? I swear I'm not going to make it out of here alive. _

She gritted her teeth and started to climb. She climbed and climbed and soon she lost track of how long she had been climbing for. After a while, she started to wonder if, when she reached the top, the stupid man would make her tell him how many steps she had just climbed. _Well that would suck_, she thought.

The more she climbed, more steps seemed to appear. She looked down below her and it didn't look like she had climbed any more than half way. She was starting to breathe heavily and felt like giving up. Not to mention the hot sun which was definitely not helping as it shone its infernal rays on her back. But she had to find out what that man was going to tell her. She had wanted to wield her own zanpakutou for a long time and now she could finally do so. Now if she could just get to the top…She broke into a run, trying to block out any thoughts of giving up and ignoring the burning feeling in her throat and lungs that seemed to suggest they were really quite close to disintegrating and leaving her out of breath on the floor. Just as she felt her legs would simply collapse beneath her, the sunlight ceased to affect her, as if someone had simply flicked a switch, and now she merely felt as if it were a mildly overcast day. Her breathing slowed and, as she looked at the flames below, she drew her sword and whispered, almost unaware of her actions.

"Nozomu, Issendai Hoshi"

Wish, a thousand stars.

Suddenly, the flames rose and grew hotter and bigger, moving towards her and seeing this, she panicked. As she scrambled up the steps, trying to get away, and mentally screaming for the fire to go away, they subsided, and she realised she had some sort of control over them. Aware of this, she attempted to exercise her power over the flames. At her will, they covered the stairs in front of her in the form of a flickering and fiery carpet. Without feeling any sort of pain, she walked them with ease, albeit at a much faster pace than she would have if they were just normal, non-flaming stairs. Before she knew it, she had reached the top and she stepped out onto the landing. The flames stopped burning and she took a step into a temple-like pavilion.

In contrast to the burning heat she had just faced, the room was oddly cold and she felt uncomfortable.

"Find me," Davide's disembodied voice taunted.

"I will! Just you wait!" Hiyori shouted into the dark and empty room, and it echoed back at her, sounding like it too was teasing her.

But it was hopeless. The room soon became so cold she could hardly stand up properly without shuddering, let alone search the place. But she remembered what she had just done, and this time, with no effort, the words came to her again.

"Nozomu, Issendai Hoshi!"

Suddenly it was bright again and she could feel the warmth of the flames upon her back. And in front of her, stood the same man, with his annoying cheesy grin, looking at her.

"Well done, clap clap!" The man held his hands up and clapped enthusiastically.

"Who the hell says, 'clap clap' if they're clapping already," Hiyori grumbled, looking sideways. Then she remembered what she had come here for.

"Oh yeah, you owe me something."

"What?"

"You promised you'd tell me how to wield you if I found you," Hiyori said.

"Well, haven't I already?" he replied

She thought back to what she had just done.

"What? That's called wielding you? All I said were a few words!" Hiyori exclaimed in incredulity.

"And that's all you need," he replied calmly, a simple smile on his face, but then spoiled the moment by saying, "Oho, didn't that sound so very philosophical?"

"Oh shut up. How do I get out of here then?" Hiyori asked, looking around.

"What, don't you like it here?" he man asked with a mock hurt expression on his face.

"Well I would like to go back to living, you know."

"Very well, if you can answer this question, you can go back," he grinned, "how many steps did you just climb?"

_Stupid man! How the freak am I supposed to know? I knew he was going to say something like this!I knew it!_ She thought quickly, panicking, then she smiled, knowing just what to say.

"Zero."

"What?"

"Zero; I didn't climb any stairs just then." Her smile grew bigger, "I was talking to you, wasn't I?"

Suddenly, she felt something forcing itself down her throat and the last thing she saw before her mind went black, was the man scratching his head and looking very clueless.

* * *

"Where's Bakari gone?" Hoshika looked around, "She's been gone for a while now. Look, the sky's all dark."

"D'you think she got lost?" asked Akechi with a small smirk.

"Lost? After being here for so long? Is she really that dumb?" Tifa exclaimed.

"I wouldn't put it past her," Mochi said. "I'll go look for her. She probably got mixed up between the path to the gardens and the path to the main city again."

Saiko looked up, and shook her book at them, "Ffff, why are we even worrying about her? For crying out loud, we have a maths test tomor—"

"I'll come with you," Akechi said, cutting her off, "I'm done with studying anyway."

But they had barely walked further than twenty metres outside their door before a figure cut in front of them.

"Is this your friend? She was lying on the forest floor unconscious when I found her, so I gave her something to drink and she came around. By my reckoning, she probably just fell over and knocked herself out on the ground."

Hiyori stood next to the figure and smiled tentatively. Mochi and Akechi looked at her zanpakutou, now smaller and glinting brighter than before she'd left.

"Yeah, I think I just tripped, when I came around, I couldn't remember where I was, but he helped me find my way back," Hiyori explained, and turned to him. "Thanks."

"No problem. Well then, oyasumi nasai." The man turned to leave.

"Wait!" Mochi said.

"Yes?" he turned around again. Suddenly the moon came from behind a cloud and light shone so his face could be clearly seen.

"Nothing," Mochi whispered.

The man nodded amusedly and walked off, leaving the three shinigami to return to their dorms.

"Guess what? I've finally got my zanpakutou!" Hiyori exclaimed excitedly.

"That's great," said the other two, both sounding bored. But Hiyori, being an unobservant being, did not hear their tone of voice.

"I know, right?" Hiyori skipped out in front of the others and had almost reached the door.

"Bakari!"Mochi shouted out.

"Yeah?" Hiyori turned.

"What was that man's name? Did he tell you?"

"Oh yeah, it was Aizen. Sousuke Aizen."

[1] Davide- Named after the guy from Prince of Tennis who LOOOOVES to say puns. I will now take this opportunity to quote him, "Smash wo shimasu"

Ok guys! Finally, FINALLY I finished this. Well honestly, it's 10 pages on word doc so it's sorta understandable ne? And to all those readers out there who've started to think "Where the freak is this story going?" we've finally started to develop some sort of solid plot.

Please remember to review.


	16. Chapter 15

Hey everyone, its moshimellow again with a random extra she decided to type up one day. Please enjoy~ (Free cookie for the first review that points out where I got the inspiration for this extra! :3)

-:-

It was record temperature in Soul Society, the first time it had become so hot. The sun beat down mercilessly as everyone sweated and frantically tried to cool themselves. School was cancelled due to the bad insulation inside the buildings; it would be like an oven inside and the students would be cooked alive. In the towns, shutters were pulled down, doors closed and everyone retreated inside their houses to keep out of the heat.

Meanwhile, in a derelict, small dorm which housed only six young shinigami, the occupants sat in their rickety common room complaining endlessly about the weather.

"Ugh, why is it so freaking hot???" moaned Tifa as she writhed around on the threadbare carpet. Everyone was stripped down to short shorts and singlets yet the sweat still poured down continuously. Shioru squatted in front of her miniature electric fan as it feebly rattled on before making a loud CLANK! and fell apart.

"My fan!! Don't die on me!" she begged, desperately picking up the pieces of the el cheapo fan she had haggled from the market.

"Che," Hoshika said with a smirk. "It serves you right for being so cheap and buying a second-hand one even though a new one was hardly more expensive."

As Hoshika spoke to Shioru, her attention was occupied for a split second. Seeing this chance, Saiko lunged for the flimsy, paper fan in her hand they had been fighting for before and fled with it.

"Why you little...!" with that, Hoshika sped off after Saiko, shouting for her (even cheaper) fan.

At the exact moment they ran to the top of the stairs, Hiyori appeared holding a huge pile of clothes and snacks.

"Watch out— " before Hiyori could finish her warning, the two dashed to the side and crashed past both her arms, causing her to trip and the items in her arms to fly everywhere. Having fast reactions, Saiko and Hoshika stopped right before the next short flight of stairs but Hiyori, having tripped, was falling backwards.

Saiko and Hoshika could only watch open-mouthed as their friend fell back. It was almost like slow motion as Hiyori's body curved backwards as she fell, her arms released their burden to grasp for some invisible support. Shioru and Tifa watched horrified from the living room, their arms reaching out uselessly in a bid to save their friend.

There was a flash of red and white; Mochi flash-stepped behind Hiyori. _Way of destruction, Thrust._ (1) An invisible force pushed Hiyori to the opposite way she was falling. "Ouch!" Hiyori crashed face first on the creaking boards of the landing.

Everyone let out a breath of air they were subconsciously holding. Mochi walked slowly up the first flight of stairs and grabbed the back of Hiyori's shirt and dragged her up, not bothering to attend to Hiyori's weak knees that couldn't support her weight. In the process, she turned her around and everyone peered at the huge bruise already blooming on Hiyori's forehead.

"Oops," Mochi let go of her shirt, turned around and made her way down the stairs again.

Shioru broke the silence as her mouth twitched and a quiet 'lol' slipped out. The sound made everyone but Hiyori burst out in laughter. Saiko cautiously crept forwards towards the stunned Hiyori and poked the bruise, apparently bringing her back to the world of the living.

"OWWIE!! Saiko, STOP POKING IT! MOCHI COME BACK HERE! YOU DIDN'T NEED TO PUT THAT MUCH REIATSU INTO THAT! OWW!"

Mochi smirked as Hiyori's cries died away as she left the house. She looked up at the clear blue sky and stretched leisurely. _Such a great day to have no school; it must be luck._

BEEEEP! BEEEEP!!

"Tch," Mochi stuffed her hand in her pocket and grabbed the vibrating spirit communicator in her pocket. She had forgotten to lose the damn thing the moment no-one was watching but unfortunately forgot. Wrenching it open, she sliced her finger on the little lotus phone charm dangling from it. _Note to self: never let Hiyori decorate or buy things for me again._ She sucked her finger and read the message:

_To all students in the Shinigami Academy, your superiors have decided that you will be participating in the Real World Beach Excursion! It is compulsory to come as we are having a SAND SCULPTING COMPETITION! HOW EXCITING!! 3_

Mochi snorted in disbelief. _This was something the likes of Ri would organise. If she wasn't such a rii-tard_(2)_, I would have thought she was trying to trick me_. However, she began making her way back to the dorms. It had been a while since she had seen humans and wondered if the phone she was looking at in her favourite magazine had been released yet.

-:-

The six girls filed out of their ramshackle dorm and quickly made their way to school. One was holding a beach umbrella, another a picnic basket and the rest clutched strange assorted items.

"Saiko, stop eating all our food! We need it for later," Hoshika said, pointing her umbrella at the girl holding the basket. Saiko looked up from the sandwich she was greedily gobbling. "No'th wowwy," she mumbled with her mouth half full, "I'm onthly eathing your sthrare! (3)"

"Why you!" shouted Hoshika. She lunged for the Saiko who promptly sprinted away, still munching on Hoshika's sandwich.

"How can they run like that in this heat?" wondered Shioru, who was still mourning the death of her fan.

"Beats me," Tifa grinned. "But all I know is that it's gonna be a whole heap of fun today!" She ran ahead, after the two girls.

Shioru looked back at the two others behind her. She grinned at what other students in Soul Society would think if they saw them now.

Hiyori was... there was no word that could really describe how she looked. At the moment, she looked like a cross between a discount store and a hitchhiking backpacker. She was wearing a giant brimmed hat, huge sunnies and carrying assorted towels, inflatable toys, sand castle making tools and pretty much anything you could possibly use at the beach. What wasn't in the huge bag she was lugging was tied onto her.

Mochi however, was walking as far away from Hiyori as possible in a sad attempt to avoid association with her. Despite her obvious disgust at Hiyori's strange appearance, she wasn't the most normal looking person that day either. In conclusion, out of their whole group, she would be the person that caused most stares and double-takes.

Mochi was dressed rather normally for a beach trip. She wore a long singlet with a strange dinosaur print on it and shorts. Relatively normal if you ignore the fact that she really wasn't the type to choose a top with an angry chibi dinosaur saying 'Rawr' on it. However, the item she held confidently in her arms was... definitely NOT normal.

You could be forgiven to thinking she was holding a giant blow-up chocolate block, if that wasn't strange enough. But this "chocolate block" had floppy limbs, two huge black eyes and a gigantic open mouth.

"What did you say that thing was called again?" asked Shioru. Mochi looked up from her book and glared at her. "Don't insult him by calling him a thing. His name is Domo-kun."

Shioru's eyebrows shot up; she didn't think that Mochi would be so protective of the chocolate blow-up monster.

"Well I'm sorry, I didn't know it had feelings," she replied. Slightly annoyed, Shioru walked a little faster, leaving Mochi and Hiyori behind. "Hmph, this heat is really getting to me," she muttered to herself.

Mochi watched as Shioru disappeared out of her peripheral vision. "Tch,"

_"Heh, I didn't think you were the type to like this type of thing. Of course we can't say that it doesn't suit your personality,"_

Mochi's mouth twitched slightly, a strong urge to strangle her sword nearly overtaking her. "Shuttup, girly man," she muttered. Her steps quickened with her annoyance.

"Wait for me, guys!" wailed Hiyori as Mochi strode ahead of her and she lagged behind due to the huge load she was carrying. She ran around the corner to see Shioru disappear through a passageway which had mysteriously materialised in front of the academy hall. Above the entrance was a huge banner with the words "Senkaimon(4) to Real World Beach- All Shinigami Welcome!". There were many students around wearing casual beach wear and a few being lectured by the teachers for wearing their shinigami uniform.

Mochi turned around to wait for the slower girl who was removing some of her load; therefore being just normal enough to be acknowledged as an acquaintance. "Hurry up Bakari! You're holding us up," she shouted. Two, small butterflies broke away from a cluster on the wall to lead the two girls and they hurriedly followed it into the entrance.

-:-

Tifa stared sullenly at her friends. They were all being boring. Saiko had gone off and was digging the sand, being a creative and competitive person. Tifa however wanted to go play in the water instead of getting herself all sandy. Hoshika had muttered something about looking for a shady tree and had disappeared off to somewhere. Even Mochi had joined Ri at the sand sculpture building, although she wasn't doing much to help her. Looking around, she realised that a member of their little group was missing. Where was Akechi?

"Damn, even Akechi's gone. What do I do now?" she grumbled unhappily to herself. She squatted down comfortably on the sand, almost where the water reached and watched the waves roll in and out. Swish. Swosh. Swish. Swosh. The sun was still unbearably hot, despite it being in a different dimension so she rolled into the water and closed her eyes.

It was all calm. All Tifa could hear was the gentle swooshing of the waves and the recurrent lowering of the water before another wave washed up. In her silent tranquil bliss, she felt someone approach her, heralded by a violent splashing in the water. She sat up and looked up, shielding her eyes from the sun.

A dark haired man was staring down at her, possibly wondering whether she was a corpse or not. As she looked up at him, he gave a quiet snort of disbelief and his curious look was replaced by a look of superiority. "You are in the way, child," he stated.

Tifa kept staring up at him. _Wow. Look at those abs. What a hot guy, _she thought. Looking past his face she focused on the ripped looking board he held. _A surfboard!_ Seeing the board she stood up in excitement.

"Dude, that's an awesome board! Can you teach me how to surf?" she babbled eagerly.

The man's eyes widened for a second before he recomposed his expression to one of disdainfulness.

"That's Kuchiki-taichou for you," he replied before wading slowly into the water. Tifa took a few seconds before comprehending what he said. _Cool. I hope I get to be in his division_, she thought cheerfully before quickly following after him.

"Hey Mister Kuchiki! Do you think I'll be able to master it before we leave today?"

-:-

Hoshika was definitely having a bad day. Firstly, she had an awesome fan that she had created out of leftover paper from the academy. But Saiko just _had_ to steal it from her, despite the fact that she owned an even better fan. Secondly, Saiko ate most of her homemade lunch which she had personally made because she was a picky eater, unlike Saiko. She growled angrily under her breath when she realised that Saiko was the cause of her problems and glared pointedly at the crouching figure as it dug in the sand.

The sun was excruciatingly hot and Hoshika was already half-baked with the heat. Looking back at her group of friends, she imagined them as cookies slowly rising in the oven. _What the hell? _She shook her head to get rid of the disturbing image of herself as a cookie and noticed a sheltered area of trees. The shade looked so invitingly cool and relaxing, she didn't think twice. After muttering a quick goodbye to Tifa, the only one who was listening, she took off.

She yelped as she darted through the hot sand. As her feet touched the cool sand under the trees she breathed a sigh of relief and happiness.

"So nice!" Hoshika sank into the cold sand and gazed contentedly into the distant horizon where her friends still gathered.

"I agree," a sly voice said behind her.

Hoshika jumped up and crouched like a coiled spring while scanning the dark bushes before she saw a silhouette of a tall slim man behind her. _How did he slip behind me without me noticing?_ Hoshika stared at him suspiciously.

"You must be wondering how I got behind you without you noticing?" he asked, breaking the tense silence. "That's because I was here before you, you're the one who walked here without noticing me," he continued. As he spoke he stepped forward and out of the darkness, revealing his white haori, which signified that he was a captain. Hoshika was slightly overwhelmed but gathered her emotions and gave him a stiff bow.

"May I ask for your name? And what division you are captain of, sir?" she said, before looking up at his face.

A smile spread on his face, slowly growing and when it was complete, Hoshika was taken aback by its creepy yet mesmerising effect. His eyes seemed closed, as he replied to her, "Am I that good looking that you have to stare? I'm the captain of the 3rd Division, Ichimaru Gin."

The information he gave her however, just slipped through her mind like sand in an hourglass. Gone in seconds. Hoshika stared fixatedly on the large packet he was holding. "Never mind that," she interrupted. She slowly raised her arm and pointed at the packet. "Are those…" she paused, just to make sure she was correct, "are those dried prunes?", her face lighting up in wonderment.

Ichimaru blinked. "Err... Yes? Do you want some?" he asked.

Needless to say, her answer was not 'no'.

-:-

"Mochi! We have to win this competition with our awesome sculpture! Can you pass me that shell over there?" squealed Hiyori. She patted the sand mound in front of her happily while chattering away. There was no reply from Mochi who sat next to her, reading her book. The inflatable Domo flailed its arms next to her in the breeze.

"Oh well, I'll just get it myself," said Hiyori, reaching for a small pink shell. "Look how pretty this is, Mochi!"

There was an irritated grunt of reply and then Hiyori fell silent again, intent on making her dream sand castle. Mochi spotted a small, sparkly shell which she absently chucked in front of Hiyori making her explode with chatter again. _Headache. _She groaned and stood up, grabbing the brown monster. Glancing quickly at Hiyori, she flash stepped to a distance before starting to walk again. Hiyori just kept nattering away, not noticing that her companion was hardly even within earshot.

Mochi sighed as she silently walked further from Hiyori. Even when Hiyori was just a small smudge in the horizon, she could still hear her shrill voice. Walking past a small pavilion, she noticed Shioru sitting with a dodgy looking old man. _He looks pretty suspicious. Long hair just like someone I know…. _thought Mochi. While debating whether to go over to them and check out the situation, an offended voice disturbed her thoughts. _By "long hair", do you mean me? _Mochi smirked as she ignored the voice.

-:-

A little while before, Shioru had been wandering around the beach, searching for her companions. "Sigh. Where have they gone?" she muttered under her breath. The sun was relentlessly beating down on her and she felt like she was slowly melting. Spotting a scattering of small pavilions nearby, she made for the nearest one. It was when she almost reached the shelter that she realised it was already occupied. Occupied, by a mysterious looking man with long white hair. As she got closer she realised that it was actually the captain they came across a while ago when they were trying to get to the real world.

The white-haired captain looked up as she came closer. "Hello there! I'm Ukitake. Would you like to join me for some tea?" he called out to her. _Tea?_ Her eyes lit up and she grinned back at him.

"Yeah! I've got some Kasutera as well. Would you like some?" she asked before taking a seat. "Oh yeah, and I'm Akechi."

"A hot day isn't it?" asked Ukitake as he poured the green tea into two cups. Despite the weather being sweltering hot, Shioru took the tea gratefully, blew on it to cool it down before taking a sip.

"Indeed," answered Shioru. "This tea smells and tastes wonderful. Thank you, I really like it."

"Glad you do. It's some of my special tea leaves for unique occasions like these."

-:-

Mochi's eyes swept over the wide expanse of beachy surroundings and stopped on a small, lone figure sitting in one of the stone pavilions. _Hmm. Looks pretty little. Must be Saiko or someone. _

-:-

Saiko grunted as she piled layers of wet sand onto her sculpture. With her creative juices flowing and ridiculously competitive nature, she would _not _lose this sand-sculpturing competition. She had the best idea in her mind, an idea which equalled ultimate EPIC win. And that idea was slowly coming alive as she shaped the huge mountain of wet sand before her.

Next to her, another Shinigami had the same thoughts in mind as he ground the clumps of sand he held into clever little shapes. His eyes scanned the beachy landscape for something useful for his sculpture and a small sword-shaped piece of driftwood caught his eye. At the same time, his hand and Saiko's hand shot towards the driftwood and collided.

A suddenly visible aura of malice appeared around both of their figures as they slowly faced each other.

"Teme… THAT'S MY PIECE OF DRIFTWOOD!" they shouted in unison. Saiko's eye twitched as she glared daggers at the red-haired Shinigami.

"DON'T STEAL MY LINE FREAK!" they shouted in unison again.

A tumultuous amount of swearing and cursing and childish-name calling was going through Saiko's little brain as she had a glaring match with the red-haired Shinigami. _Stupid –beep- weirdo –beep- my wood –beep- eyebrows –be-ep-?_

"HEY! You're that freaky eyebrow dude I walked into a while ago!" she burst out.

The Shinigami stared at her. "So it was you. I can't believe I got blown away by a little short freak. And that's Renji-sama for you, kiddo," he retorted.

"HEY! Don't look down on short people! It's height-ist. Anyways shuttup man, I need that driftwood to make my sculpture of myself!" she shouted back, flailing her arms around.

"That's MY idea!" argued Renji.

They glared at each other. There was a silence. A seagull flying ahead cawed.

GURURURURU! A deep rumbling sound broke the silence.

"I'm hungry."

"Same here."

"Let's get some ramen."

"That's what I was thinking, there's an awesome ramen stand over there."

GURURURURURURU!

"Let's go."

"Indeed. Although," Saiko squinted at the stand, "Why do they think anyone would want ramen at the beach? Anyone sane, that is—"

GURURURURURURURURURURURURURURU!

"Ok let's go."

-:-

Mochi started walking towards the small figure. However as she got closer, she felt the spiritual pressure of someone else press down on her and it was harder to breath than usual. _This can't be the chibi…_

"Oi! Chibi there!" she shouted.

Suddenly the pressure pushed down on her shoulders and the small figure was shrouded with an almost visible aura of misty white. "What did you say?" a low voice snarled.

"The chibi there with a low voice," she repeated, her curiosity beating her sense of self-preservation.

The chibi turned, his silver-white hair glinting in the sunlight. The pressure increased but Mochi continued to squint in his direction. _Looks familiar…_ "Oh! You're that captain dude with the white hair…. Hibutaya?"

"It's Hitsugaya…." he corrected her testily, still glaring at as he scooped a spoonful from a huge bowl of shaved ice. Mochi stepped into the little shelter and sat down on the cool stone seat, dumping Domo down beside her.

"It's nice here," she murmured to herself.

_"It's nicer in my world," _a snide little voice replied within Mochi's mind.

"Yeah. Stupid Matsumoto dragged me here saying something about little kids and sandcastles," Hitsugaya replied, and at the same time,Mochi growled, "Urusai(6)."

He looked over to her with raised eyebrows and an expression on his face which made Mochi feel like a foolish five year old being scorned by a teacher. "What?"

Mochi tossed the inferior feeling aside and had a very violent urge to bash up her zanpakutou the next time she saw him. "Nothing. I was just talking to myself- my zanpakutou," she explained grudgingly. Amazingly, he accepted this with a nod and continued eating the shaved ice.

"That's just normal. Hyourinmaru is actually good company compared to the rest of the idiots here," he continued, scooping another spoonful. He stopped eating when he saw the disbelieving look on Mochi's face. "What?"

Mochi glared at the zanpakutou she had placed next to her on the seat. "Mines an effing bastard who wakes me up at freaking five in the morning to train," she grumbled.

_Oi! I can hear you, you know. It's for your own good anyway._

"And there he goes again,"

Hitsugaya grinned. "That's actually not too bad you know. I knew a guy whose zanpakutou kept him up for many nights humming some iinfuriating little tune. I think he went mad."

Mochi laughed quietly and gazed out dreamily at the ocean. _It's been so long since I've been to the beach, ever since…. _

"_You died?" _Kanda's voice interrupted her thoughts.

_...yeah..._

-:-

"Hehe, Mochi! Just tell me if this side tower looks a little wonky or not. I really like how this pretty shell you gave me looks just right over there, don't you think?" Hiyori's rambling seemed unstoppable but then, the first time in about half an hour, she looked over to where her friend was. Not there. Not even Domo-kun was there to keep her company.

She jumped up in shock. "Mochi? Where are you? Are you playing hide and seek with me? You should have told me we started the game already, geez!"

After hunting around for fifteen minutes, she realised the cruel truth; her friend had long deserted her.

Glancing around the beach landscape, she could not see any of her friends, not even Akechi!

Abandoning her sand castle, she wandered sadly along the coastline before bumping into someone. She slowly looked up from her feet. _What huge bo- _She caught herself from thinking such perverted sounding thoughts. _How can I put it? What large... um... mammary glands... _She giggled and looked up at the lady's face.

The lady had shockingly orange hair, piled in soft waves around her face.

"Ooh! I like your hair!" blurted Hiyori. The lady gave her a huge grin and grabbed her with immense strength.

"I like your sense of style, honey. Since you look lonely, you can come with me because I'm looking for my taichou. I'm Matsumoto, you?" she asked friendlily.

Hiyori beamed back at her and replied, "I'm Hiyori, nice to meet you."

-:-

A clink of metal against glass cut short Mochi's troubled thoughts and she looked up and saw Hitsugaya shove yet another spoonful of the shaved ice into his mouth. Suddenly her throat felt very parched and she felt like drinking a lot of water.

"Hey. Where did you buy that? I don't see any stores selling shaved ice," she asked the boy.

"Oh. My element is ice. I can create ice with my zanpakutou. Convenient, isn't it?," he explained.

Mochi glowered at her sword again. _Geez. Talk about useless zanpakutou._ She heard a quiet chuckle which she swore inwardly at.

"Do you want some?" Hitsugaya's voice interrupted her thoughts again.

"Uh. Can you make some right now?" she asked.

He nodded and unsheathed his sword. "Souten ni Zase, Hyourinmaru. One shaved ice deluxe(7)," he commanded. A mist of water droplets swept towards the shining blade, before fusing together into the shape of a bowl and fell lightly onto the table with a quiet clunk. The remaining droplets shattered into shards and fell into the bowl.

"Oh. That's cool. Thanks." Mochi stared as the small captain handed a small spoon from his pocket.

"It hasn't been used before…" he said.

A companionable silence set over them as they ate their shaved ice.

"Hey, Hibutaya? You know how you said you were a captain?" started Mochi.

He looked up and scowled again. "It's _Hitsugaya-taichou_. Yeah? What about it?"

Mochi played around with the ice in her bowl before answering. "I wonder which division I'll get assigned to… Oh yeah. What division are you from?" she asked.

"I'm the captain of the Tenth Division." Hitsugaya watched her troubled expression, "Don't worry about which division you are put into at first, because it's not always permanent,"

"Oh."

Another silence fell upon them. For a while, only the sound of the tide and the clinking of their spoons could be heard.

"Ara! That short little boy over there eating! That's MY taichou!" a cheery female voice interrupted. "Huuh?! Who's that long-haired person? Never seen her before!"

"Ooh! What a shortie! OMOOOO! That long-haired person looks like my friend!" another voice chimed in.

"Oh god. She found me," Hitsugaya and Mochi groaned in unison. They looked at each other in surprise before sinking lower on the cool stone bench.

Hiyori appeared, followed by an orange haired woman, bounded up the steps to where Mochi sat.

"It is you! Mochi, why didn't you tell me when you left?" she asked, accusingly. "I didn't even get to finish our sand castle... Aren't you so disappointed?".

"Shaddup Ri, can't you see that I'm eating now?" grunted Mochi sullenly. She glanced at Hitsugaya who was trying to hide his twitching smile and she gave him a pointed look. Looking back at Hiyori, Mochi realized that she was staring hungrily at her and the small captain's shaved ice.

"Mochi, where did you buy this? OMO! I really want some! Looks so yummy!" she squealed. The orange-haired woman looked closely at the ice and gave a loud shout which made everyone jump.

"Taichou!! It's your special again!! Make me some please?" she asked, giving Hitsugaya a puppy dog face. The white haired captain ignored her before scooping up the last tidbit of ice in his bowl and eating it.

"There's none left now Matsumoto."

-:-

"And then he taught me how to balance properly on the board! It was so cool! I wish we had beaches in Soul Society so I could learn some more from him," chattered Tifa. She thought happily about the dark haired captain as she walked home with her friends. Shioru thought fondly of the small bag of tea leaves she had inside her pocket. Hoshika walked beside her, clutching a bag of prunes which she dipped her hand in, every few minutes.

Saiko walked behind them, so engrossed in her bag of bonus rock candy from the ramen store that she didn't even bother to annoy Hoshika. Mochi was relentlessly being pestered by Hiyori who was extremely excited about her meeting with Matsumoto, who she wanted to be under in the future. Domo-kun had been deflated from Saiko's continuous attacks and was folded up in Mochi's pocket.

The small group of teenagers halted outside their dorm door as the rummaging for keys began. There was a shout as one located hers and one by one they filed into their dorm with Mochi pausing to look up at the sky before she entered.

The sun had set in Soul Society, marking the end of an eventful day. With the going down of the smoldering sun, the temperature dropped to a pleasant coolness which everyone relished in. Everything was dyed a deep purple shade and by the time they had entered the common room, the first stars of the night were twinkling and the half moon was glowing in the dark blue sky. Mochi stared up at the sky intently, pondering over a stray thought.

_Feels like the calm before the storm huh? _

She considered her Zanpakutou's comment for a moment and entered her room, closing the door behind her.

"Yeah."

* * *

**A/N:**

**Yay for summer!**

(1) This is a Hadou spell which pushes the target away from the caster.

(2) Rii-tard is a cross between "Ri" – Hiyori's last name, and retard.

(3) Translated it is: "Don't worry; I'm only eating your share,"

(4) In case any fans have already forgotten, the Senkaimon is a doorway between Soul Society and the real world. Shinigami can pass through when accompanied by a Hell Butterfly (Jigoku Chou).

(6) Shut up.

(7) Hyourinmaru needs to be in shikai for Hitsugaya to be able to create ice.

This chapter outlines the meeting and bonding of our OCs with existing characters in Bleach. Hitsugaya, I think he's kind of OOC in this chapter but I tried to make him more friendly because he had met a 'kindred soul' who goes through the same hardships (of having idiotic friends AHEM Matsumoto and Hiyori) as him.

See you next time, Mochi-sama.

* * *

Please note that this is a filler. If you are confused by some happenings in the future that contradict with this chapter, please disregard all that you have learnt in this chapter.


	17. Chapter 16

"So…" Saiko glanced around the room awkwardly, head bobbing up and down slowly in the ridiculously mindless manner she had come to call 'the mildly dumb ape I–am-not-brainwashed-I'm-just-stupid' mode. She cocked her head and opened her mouth to speak.

Hoshika cut in before she could start rambling and putting each of the trivia show ponies of her mind through their pace in an effort to engage her impassive friend in any manner possible.

"Please don't start rambling about how penguins have small organs above their eyes that change salt water to fresh water, because you've already told me that and," she paused and glanced at Saiko who, having been just about ready to interrupt, closed her mouth and shrank back in fearful compliance, "don't try the story about how exactly you got that scar on your cheek, because I knew you were 'attacked' by falling blinds and not the most terrifying monster your messed up mind could ever dream of and could you please learn some subtlety, or at the very least, understand what it means so that you may realise just how loudly you are breathing and _maybe_, learn to breathe through your—"

"Don't tell me to breathe through my nose, because I've tried and it is by no means any quieter than breathing through my mouth," Saiko finished with a loud and deliberate sniff, turning her nose up at Hoshika and proceeding to breathe very, very loudly through her mouth.

Hoshika pulled a distasteful face and turned away, still speaking as calmly as she could, obviously making a great effort to not strike out at Saiko and her detestable attitude.

"Well before you march out of here wearing that ridiculous expression and the guise of a fat man who thinks too much of himself, you might want to be aware that morning breath does exists, and that it has done much to earn such notoriety."

Saiko scowled and shot back a reply. "Well your breath smells too, and the saddest part is that you've been breathing that insalubrious crap for so long that you don't even realise it anymore!" She grinned suddenly, and took a mock bow "And, my dear friend, with this terribly witty repartee, I do now take my leave from this mock battle of wits."

Hoshika gave her a doubtful look, already feeling weary and burned out by way of her room-mate's spontaneity and apparent rapid flu through vastly different moods. She filed through all the possible come backs in her head but found nothing that was likely to have any impact on the now almost obscenely cheerful Saiko she now had to deal with, and sighed. "Does this mean you'll untie me?"

Saiko twisted her mouth and surveyed the product of her rising with the sun (by accident): Hoshika wrapped in her very own super thin _but_ also super strong blanket on the floor, said blanket secured in place by masses of duct tape winding around and around her body. Though it'd been awkward holding the blanket in place while she reached for the tape with her foot, it had worked, and now all she had to do was wait for the sweet, sweet sound of victory.

"All right, you win this round, Kira."

Saiko grinned. There was her victory, now for the celebration.

--

Forest stretched out before them and disappeared into its own darkness within a few metres. Gnarled roots could be seen dividing the greyish earth into misshapen squares. Branches stuck out at random, rendering the barely visible pathway through the forest not quite impassable, but it was certainly not your average stroll through the wood. Rocks too did their part, inconvenience the thoroughfare of any unlucky soul who found themselves needing passage through it, whatever their reasons, and it was almost as if the forest had rendered itself so nearly impassable just for kicks.

It was for these reasons that this forest was to be the site of a challenge. And really, who else but Hoshika and Saiko would ever take a rivalry so far?

They stood side by side, gazing at this formidable forest, hands resting warily on their swords.

Saiko looked over at Hoshika and grinned. "Well, this is a pretty damn awesome place for a race, eh?" And when Hoshika failed to reply within a second, she elbowed her in the ribs and spoke with unjustified camaraderie, "Aww, come on Bakawaka, you gotta admit, it's awesome. Look at all the obstacles! What's wrong? _Afraid_ you'll lose again?" Sensing a moral victory, meaningless but still a victory, her grin grew wider until it seemed more the embodiment of manic glee than anything else.

Hoshika leaned away, a disdainful look on her face. "Of course I'm not scared I'll lose, or do you forget who didn't want a race in the first place? 'But that's unfair, my legs are shorter than yours, that's an unfair advantage'," she sneered. "Only the desperate would try to escape with such a weak argument, don't you think, Kira?" She smiled smugly at the look of dismay on her rival's face and waited for the oh-so predictable reply.

"Yeah, well screw you, _Wakanao_, because _I'm_ going to win this one, and you know it!" She turned and walked away, but took only a few steps before turning around and saying, "Ready, go!" Then, she sprinted towards the forest.

Caught by surprise, Hoshika stumbled, but only momentarily as she settled into her stride and soon ran side by side with Saiko.

"What the hell was that? Anyway, you were right, your short legs are a disadvantage," she sneered and began to lengthen her stride.

Eyes looking only ahead, Saiko allowed herself thesmallest of smiles. Seeing this, Hoshika began to feel uneasy, because Saiko suddenly smiling could only mean that she had something up her pushed up sleeve.

"Alright then, what's your trick? What have you got planned?"

Saiko's face remained unchanged, still smiling in that horribly childish and gleeful way, and only allowed Hoshika two words.

"You'll see."

Her grin brought back memories of Saiko sprouting nonsense just long enough for Hoshika to not have enough time to step over the pothole, or asking her to hold a curious object while she opened a door into Hoshika's face, and remembering what always happened after Saiko started grinning like this, turned her attention to whatever danger was approaching. Her eyes widened and as she tried to stop, she bellowed at Saiko.

"Saiko, you little—" Her scream was cut off by the clunk of a branch colliding with her head.

Saiko stopped and jabbed Hoshika's forehead with a finger before turning and continuing.

"That was for calling me short, sucker!"

Hoshika rubbed her temples with both hands and squinted up at the sky where the boughs of the trees marked the border of the forest's dominion and muttered, vexed, "But I didn't even call you short."

--

An unspecified amount of time later, the two girls found themselves in much the same situation: jumping particularly gnarly roots and with no reprieve, ducking to avoid the branches that hung just low enough for them to hit the tops of their heads. Though it would seem perfectly logical to simply run while keeping one's head down, one could also find that it was not all that easy to jump logs and ruts whilst keeping ones head down and so they gave up after five very uncomfortable minutes of running steeplechase with their heads down.

Despite their comic attempts to overcome these difficulties, it was clear that they both had only one goal; to reach the clearing first and maybe strike a pose that radiated awesomeness and superiority. It was this objective and goal that they each held in their minds and the prospect of claiming victory over their greatest rival drove them on even as their legs burned with every step.

They ran for what seemed like hours, but it couldn't possible have been, as not even that ultimate prize of proven superiority could boost their endurance to such heights. Eventually, they sighted, perhaps eighty metres ahead, a patch of light that, by some unknown grace, was free of the evil, twisted old trees that had marked the furious path they'd torn, and undoubtedly meant the clearing and the end of their race. Though by no means the end of their rivalry.

They each pushed themselves harder now that the end was in sight, and felt in themselves a small rush of adrenaline.

Straining their bodies to the limit, they broke out into the clearing and then broke out into cheers and whoops of pure exhilaration, each fully believing that it was she who had won.

"Yes! Yes, I bloody won it! You see that, bakawaka?! _I_ beat you!"

"Oh, that was it! There can be no more argument as to who is superior now, Kira! You and I both know _I_ had won!"

Ignoring her, Saiko fell to the ground, and lay there, content with lying on the rough, dusty ground whilst Hoshika leant against a tee, grinning. Their looks of content vanished as they each realised that the other had been celebrating their own victory and they quickly broke into more quarrelling. However, their argument ended just as quickly when Saiko suddenly took off into the trees again, calling 'Race you back!'

She had almost disappeared out of sight by the time Hoshika had managed to understand Saiko's garbled hollering and upon realising what she'd said, followed after Saiko into the trees, this time merely hacking away what branches she could with her sword.

--

Saiko could hear branches cracking and crashing down, and occasionally, a muted sting of angry words. She grinned to herself; it had to be Hoshika and, judging by the racket she was making, she was not having an easy time of it. She soon settled into a comfortable rhythm of run, jump, duck, run, head left lest you run into that tree, duck, duck, jump that ditch, run, duck, hey look a snake, run, run, run, She felt almost robotic, not even having to think as she made her way through this veritable obstacle course of a forest. She could hardly hear Hoshika behind her as she made her way with unnatural ease. It was all good she thought to herself. "Yes, it is _indeed_ all good."

"Would you still think so after you hear this?"

Saiko's head snapped back and forth as she looked around wildly, searching for her rival behind this tree or that one, and past her immediate surroundings, to her right, left and back. Still, even as she looked around her, she could not spot Hoshika among the trees and rocks and tangled greenery.

"Never thought I might be ahead of you, did you?"

She suddenly saw Hoshika in front of her, standing clear of any trees.

"Can you hear that?" Hoshika tilted her head knowingly, smug smile gunning for the position of default expression on her face. "Well, if you can't hear it, then surely you can smell it?

Saiko stood still and gave her a dubious look. "Smells like dirt."

"Which also smells like…?" Hoshika looked condescendingly down at Saiko.

She nodded with the resigned air of one who has just realised the obvious, "Which smells like rain. Great. Your point being— whoa shit!" she stepped forward as she spoke and tripped on a conveniently placed rock. She fell onto more rocks, though they were more pebbles than rocks. As she picked herself up, groaning and cursing the whole way, the biggest and fattest droplet she'd ever seen, or rather, been hit by, landed smack bang in the middle of her pissed off face, followed by a full-fledged downpour. She looked around her and at Hoshika, who was also now paying much more attention to their surroundings.

"You know how there are sometimes dry riverbeds that lie around, unnoticed until it happens to rain…" Hoshika glanced up at Saiko's face which, as she continued to speak, changed to her oshit face, "yeah, I'm thinking this might be one of those."

Right on cue, they heard the distant rumble of tonnes of water rushing down the creek bed to meet them and carry them away to their next major plot point.

"Kira," Saiko turned away from the water to face Hoshika, "it may be worth noting that I can't swim."

Saiko frowned and pulled a face. "Well that might be a little problem." She turned back and faced the wall of impending watery doom. "And this might just make that into a big probl—"

Rushing water hit her body like a tonne of bricks and however much she tried to get control over her situation, the force of an ever increasing torrent of water was clearly too much.

She was washed away down the river, still kicking her legs and sticking a hand above the surface of the water in what would have looked like a physical cry for help had her other three fingers and thumb also been up.

--

Saiko woke up to the rustling of leaves. Her left eye opened, then her right, only to be almost immediately blinded by the sun, shining down through a wonderfully convenient gap in the canopy far above her body. She groaned and rolled over, burying her head in the leaf litter. Something dug into her side and she groped around with one hand, looking for the offending object. After her hand had fallen upon far too many of the less desirable products of nature it found something solid and thankfully not of a similar nature to everything else. She pulled it away from her side, turning her head to get a look at whatever she was holding, but froze when she heard a blade being unsheathed.

She rose slowly, trying to make as little sound as possible, brandishing whatever she'd picked up off the ground. However, as like most people who wake up at the foot of a gargantuan (and smelly) tree after being knocked out whilst caught up in a flash flood do, she didn't exactly feel her best and lurched to the left, only just managing to grab onto the tree's trunk to avoid falling. While her head didn't feel as bad as it could have, it still felt stagnant and sluggish, topped off with a garnish of nagging pain at the base of her skull.

Despite this, she did her best to stay upright, leaning on a blessedly smooth tree as she looked all around her, watching the bushes for movement, waiting for something to jump out from behind the enormous buttress roots that this and all the surrounding trees stood on. She looked down at her makeshift weapon and was pleasantly surprised. She'd pulled out her very own zanpakuto, which happened to be all she needed to hack any assailant to small, bite size chunks for whatever scavengers lived in this forest.

Even as she waited for the assailant to appear, nothing happened. The forest was quiet and there seemed to be no surprise hiding in the woods today. Her eyes began to wander and she found herself turning her sword over and over. It was a bit dirty, marked with the patches of brown dust that turbid water leaves behind. She looked at its sheath and tilted it up with her hand. It was still the same as always, standard blank, carbon copy style (oh, the irony), completely devoid of the quirks and deviations that meant real style.

She slid her sword back into its sheath and then pulled it out quickly, swinging it across the front of her vision and played with it. Slashing at an invisible enemy, she dispatched them with a thrust through their nonexistent heart. She did not stop, and instead whirled around and struck the tree trunk hard, lodging the blade firmly into the timber.

Leaves fell to the ground, landing lightly with a pitter patter sound then rustled as the wind picked them up and threw them into a weak whirlwind. She watched the natural spectacle as the leaves rustled and flew about. She smiled, then facepalmed as she thought, _it's both amazing and ridiculous that leaves can still distract me like that_. Suddenly, she was shaken out of her musings by the appearance of a sizeable snake which had draped itself over a huge root big enough to act as a bench in any park.

The snake's body and head together were at the very least six metres long. Diamonds marked its back, and she knew it was a diamond python, and that they weren't venomous but were still intimidating. Furthermore, they could still bite and crush prey with their bodies. Yeah, that too.

Still, it slithered towards her, apparently disproving the old line 'They're probably more afraid of you than you are of them'. Yeah, right, and snakes show their fear of people by approaching them with utter confidence.

It came closer, all the time keeping its dull eyes fixed on Saiko. She stepped backwards slowly, sword now held out in front of her body, though she was not quite sure if it would really be of any use against a huge snake that seemed so intent on having lunch at present. She began to stomp her feet as she moved backwards, trying recall any trivia she happened to know about snakes.

Desperately trying to convince herself that she was not in too much danger, she muttered to herself over and over again 'They're probably more afraid of you than you are of them', and it became a sort of panicked mantra as she continued to try, ineffectually, to make her escape.

"What a load of bullshit." Someone was clearly not given to tactful speech.

"Ack!" Saiko froze and looked around frantically for the source of the voice until comprehension finally dawned on her face. She looked down. "Sorry?"

The snake seemed to sigh then looked back at her. "Does it say something about you that you'd naturally come to the conclusion that if you can't see anyone else, it must be the snake talking to you? Not a hidden ninja?"

Saiko stared dumbly at it, mind working furiously to process what it had just said. She finally opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by the snake, who was clearly enjoying the look of enragement on the girl's face.

"Anyway, it is a load of bullshit. Think about it _slowly_. Why should I, or any other snake, be afraid of _you_. Look at me. I'm a 20 foot long snake, and I could kill you by squeezing your guts out."

It spoke with a self-assured air that was more likely than not fuelled by a never-ending superiority complex and as it finished speaking, the snake reared up so it could look at Saiko on the same level. It leaned back, looking her up and down.

"They really are letting in the full regiment these days, aren't they? Mind you," it paused, matching the look Saiko shot at it with equal parts of snark and gravity, "the situation doesn't look too bad for it. After all, you've been able to find your inner soul without too much of an issue, even if it took a flash flood and a conveniently placed overhanging tree branch to make the final distance," it added, tilting its head away from Saiko pre-emptively.

Saiko's eyes widened as the snake's speech confirmed her thoughts. "Fuck you! You're my magical, inner, deepest, whatever part of my soul that even I'm not fully aware of, right?!"

The snake rolled its eyes and nodded, letting her inarticulate rage wash straight over its head.

"Yes, yes, yes, _yes!_" she pumped her fist in the air, "I did freaking beat Hoshika, that sly, inferior loser! She can't even hold a match to my incredible superiority!" She broke off into laughter, basking in the entirely imaginary glory of her accomplishment, coasting straight past the fact that she had still yet to actually gain her zanpakuto.

The flat and obviously bored voice of the snake cut through her jubilation and reminded her of this fact in much the same manner that a tired teller at the grocery store asks 'cash or card', 'credit or debit', and finally, 'pin or sign'.

"You haven't even started on getting your zanpakuto, so stop celebrating. And yes, I am here to continually burst your bubble." The serpent proceeded to mime pulling a note out of its non-existent coat and spoke as it reading from this note, all the while deadpanning at the still grinning Saiko.

"You would do well to know, and if you already do, consider this a handy recap: a) I am your zanpakuto. This," it gestured with its tail at the forest around them," is your inner world. I am a reflection of your inner self. Therefore I am part of you, but not. Any questions?"

Saiko stood staring blankly at her 'inner self'. After at least a minute of her staring blankly and the snake staring amusedly, she slowly put up her hand.

"Could you possibly explain—"

"No," the snake cut her off abruptly, turned and began to slither away before looking back at her, "I suspect you'd do better if you dived straight in, head first, regardless of the risk"— it raised an eyebrow at the face Saiko pulled— "of cracking your head on the bottom, because you dived in at the shallow end." Again, it rolled its eyes, and sighed. "And yes, I do know that you've done that before, because I live in your mind. Dumbass. Now let's go."

It turned away and continued to slither.

Behind it, Saiko threw her hands into the air, frustrated by the snake and followed after. It was hard arguing against someone who knew every part of you. It continued to extol the virtues of maintaining a calm exterior, while Saiko pulled an overdramatic face and mimicked it talking, complete with flick-y gestures and a snooty face.

"By the way, your theatrical skills are terrible," the snake spoke, slithering around and up the trunk of a nearby tree then looking down at Saiko amusedly.

Saiko looked at it for a moment, then set her jaw, "However offended I am, it probably won't help to try and wring your neck, right?"

"Right. Mostly because you'd never catch me, but I am willing to allow you that particular delusion of grandeur."

She ignored its last remark. "So I'll just go along with whatever it is that I need to do to get my zanpakuto. Fine. Shall we start?" She looked at the snake with a smile, though it was impossible to tell whether she was faking it, or just had an insane mood swing. Though, the snake noticed, her smile _was_ taking on a rather insane and not entirely sound quality as she waited for a reply.

Instead of backing away slowly and trying to escape from the mad child, it put on an insane grin of its own and began. "Right you are. So, first, you have to catch me by the neck and keep your grip." Besides, it reasoned, why not fight fire with fire? "Ready? Ok go."

Saiko lunged at it, right arm outstretched. It quickly slithered further up the tree, and hung from a branch, daring her to climb up. The clumsy human. Saiko tilted her head to side and though her mouth remained largely still, her eyes gave her amusement away.

"You know," she said, grabbing onto the first branch, "you may have wanted to pay attention to what I do in my spare time."

"And what would that be?" it asked, slightly disconcerted by her sudden grin.

Said grin grew wider and Saiko grabbed another branch and pulled herself up with her feet wedged firmly into the gap between branch and trunk. She continued her climb upwards, and the snake continued to slither away. It eyed a nearby tree and began to make its way along a branch and Saiko, with her stubborn refusal to give up or acknowledge the existence of gravity, followed it along the branch. Soon, they reached the point where the branch became too thin for Saiko to continue. Seeing this, the snake smiled (it would seem that now, its scaly face _did_ facilitate such movement).

However, its small victory was indeed small and also short-lived and it could feel its smile drop as it saw Saiko reach forward again and begin to pull sharply at the narrow branch that the snake happened to be curled around. Her grin grew wider as she shook the limb harder, and the snake's grip loosened with each shake,

Try as it might, the snake's head and upper body were swung off the violently juddering branch, and then its tail, though it did try to catch the small twigs that grew off the branch's tip.

It fell, writhing madly as it did, and Saiko watched it fall with a smile. Suddenly, she remembered why she'd tried so hard to cut off the snake's escape and, laughing inwardly at how easily her mind was distracted, she began the descent from the heights of the tree tops because however much she enjoyed sitting in the swaying, vertigo-inducing zenith of a magnificent black fig, she had to catch that snake first.

The way down was much harder, as it often is, than it was going up. Many times she'd had to lie to herself and say there was nothing dangerous about falling several feet and needing to make a precision landing on a slippery smooth bough. Of course not. Despite the trouble and time she'd taken in getting down, Saiko still found the snake unconscious, making it almost far too easy for her to reach over, and clamp her hand firmly around its neck.

She smiled smugly and waited for the wail of despair that would surely sound when her dear zanpakuto realised it had given to her the first challenge on a silver platter by _falling out of a tree_. It did not, however, happen quite that way. Though she did stand there for a considerable amount of time waiting for her moment of triumph, it never came, and she sat down in the cavity created by two enormous buttress roots extending out from one of many such trees in that forest. After a moment's thought on how exactly she could keep the snake incapacitated, she pressed it belly up to the ground and found a forked branch and drove each prong into the ground on either side of the snake's neck until the cusp touched its scales.

Apparently satisfied with her handiwork, she stood up and dusted her hands off and then promptly sat back down again and, remembering why she'd bothered trapping her zanpakuto, slouched back into the hollow and relaxed.

She had dozed off by the time the snake regained consciousness and did not stir at all, even when it realised its situation and began to thrash and writhe in a poorly conceived plan of escape. It quickly gave up and laid perfectly still, save for the tip of its tail, which twitched irritably.

"Stupid human. Stupid, stupid, stupid, _stupid!_" It whipped its head around at Saiko and screamed at her.

This _did_ manage to wake her up, albeit very slowly. She kicked out vaguely in its direction and her eyes opened slowly. For a moment, she didn't realise where she was and looked around at approximately the same speed as a sloth on morphine. She did however, open her eyes properly when she saw the snake, and, noting that it had not managed to escape the bonds of her cunningly constructed shackle, grinned and called out with a cheery, 'Good morning, my dear asshole-y friend!' then got up and planted her hand firmly on its neck and pulled the branch away.

She grinned triumphantly and held it up at eye level, "So does this mean I've finished the first challenge? What's the next one? Collect two different types of leaves?" She spoke in an alarmingly condescending way, alarming in that when she began to speak like that, she usually decided she could also do anything.

"No, actually," her zanpakuto spoke slowly and hesitantly, "you're done."

Her eyes widened, "What?"

It nodded dejectedly. "That was the only challenge. See, I had a bet with someone that you wouldn't finish within before midday and would you look at that," it glanced at the sky, "it's still morning. So you now have your zanpakutou. Hold it up to the sky and laugh, because I'm damn awesome."

Saiko grinned, and reached for her sword, but it wasn't there. Not hanging from her hip, she glanced around and no, it wasn't on the ground or even in a tree. She groaned and smacked herself in the face with her palm and began to trudge around, looking for her newly gained (and newly lost) zanpakuto.

After what seemed like hours of searching for the reward of chasing after a huge snake, Saiko found herself back at the foot of the biggest tree in the entire damn forest. She turned and leant her back against its trunk, allowing her torso to scrape down its fortunately smooth bark to come to a jolting stop in contact with the ground. She inhaled deeply and collapsed her diaphragm suddenly, forcing all the air out in a deeply resigned sigh.

Something dug into her leg as she leant on a root. She reached down and pushed it away, then kicked it further away. It didn't skid all that far, with the two rows of angular spikes digging deep. Her eyes widened as she took in the handle wrapped in black and red canvas and the straight, long steel blade. She grinned and almost giggled to herself as she reached out her hand and grasped its handle, then winced and readjusted her grip so that the spiked hilt was no longer pressing into the flesh of her hand.

As Saiko swung it around her, delighting in the noise it made as she whipped it back and forth, something moved in her peripheral vision and she swung around, zanpakuto held in front of her body squarely in her right hand. She relaxed her grip when she saw that it was only the snake, her zanpakuto, and she smiled as she toyed with the mind-screw that was the impossibility of her zanpakuto being both the sword in her hand and the snake that she saw in front of her.

"That was just an extra challenge," it said, slithering towards her.

Saiko grinned, "Well that was completely within the rules, wasn't it, oh wise and powerful snake? Anyway, how do I get out of here?" She pulled a face and looked around for faults in the fabric of her inner world.

"A bit like this, I suppose." She turned back to the snake only to be met with a heavy tail being swung straight at her head.

--

"Okay Kira, what the hell do you think you're doing with _this_ in your bed?"

Saiko woke to the significantly taller figure of her roommate looming over her bunk. She looked at what Hoshika held in her hand and grinned. "Nothing."

Hoshika raised an eyebrow and then sighed. "First, you almost drown me— you know I had to freaking shunpo like a lunatic to get out of there— and then, _I_ have to carry your wet, dripping corpse back here, avoiding the mad dogs we call friends only so that I don't get strapped to a stretching rack where they learn of what happened by torturing it out of me!" She tried to contain the flood of loathing welling up inside and continued. "It's like you're _trying_ to give them more things to interrogate me about, keeping this sword in here! Go and put it back where you found it, or I _will_ burn that stupid stash of ramen to ashes."

Struggling to keep up with all the new information, Saiko instead stood on her bunk and snatched her zanpakuto out of Hoshika's hands and pointed it to the sky. "Well now, my dear friend, I believe it was another quick to anger fool who once said 'Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them', right, Hoshika?"

Shaking her head slowly, Hoshika replied with the same wary tone that nurses in institutions for the infirm used constantly, "No, I don't know what the hell you are on about, Saiko."

"Well isn't it obvious?" she grinned. "I've gotten my zanpakuto while you're still poking around with that little stick! Of course it was only to be expected, seeing how I'm so much better than you. I mean, really, who the hell do you think I am?! The little pansy whose place of rest happens to be higher than yours for no particular reason? No! It's merely because I am—"

"Just so damn annoying. Yeah, I know." Hoshika dropped down the ladder and sat on her own bunk. "Like it's the real thing anyway."

Saiko stuck her head under her bunk and said gleefully to Hoshika, "Then why don't you prove it? With a _duel_."

"What?"

"Not to the death, of course, just until one of us manages to nick the other. Deal?" She grinned and stuck a hand out.

Hoshika shook her hand reluctantly, fully aware of what would have happened if she'd refused. "Flats and backs of blades only." She shuddered. An entire day of pestering. Hoo boy.

"Okay then! This afternoon, we'll go to the banks of that river, I don't really know or care what its name is, but that's where it'll be done." Having finished talking, Saiko rolled back over and promptly fell asleep, leaving Hoshika sitting on the bunk below,

"Oh, and I just can't wait," she muttered, her voice oozing sarcasm where ever possible and barely audible.

Hoshika stood up, taking care not to bump her head and wake up a newly enraged Saiko, and walked out as quietly as she could.

She looked up and down the corridor, and saw Mochi at her own door, trying to be equally stealthy. She nodded a hello at her and set off down the corridor and Mochi smiled her all-knowing smile before entering her own room. She sat on her bed and leant against the wall, listening intently.

She smiled, when she heard the door click open, and a pair of feet padding quietly down the wooden boards close to the wall where the joins were still sound. Another door clicked, and she heard metal clink against the side of the doorway, and a muted cuss.

It was quiet for a moment, and her smiler grew wider. Then she heard shouting and a panicked shriek.

"Hi guys!" Saiko's voice rang out into the corridor.

"Who are you?! Don't kill me, plea—"

It was quiet for a moment. Mochi heard a slap, then a thump and the sound of Tifa groaning. She stood and walked to the door of Tifa and Shioru's shared room and opened it and found herself looking at Saiko standing dumbfounded but still smiling uncertainly at Tifa where she lay in her bunk on her side, hand still planted on her forehead.

Moments later, Hoshika walked in, "All right, what the hell did you do this time—" she stopped and looked at the scene. Mochi watched her turn back around and walk away. Hoshika's footsteps stopped and a door opened, she walked into her room and sat down on her bed.

Hand slapped against forehead with a resounding crack.

"Now that Saiko has her Zanpakutou... I don't even want to think about what she was about to do to Tifa."

* * *

A/N: Lol. Soo by my watch this is somewhere around 121 days late. Half of it is written on 11 pages of note paper.

Additionally, there are so many inaccuracies and plot holes and I use that term loosely because plot? Ha, what the hell is PLOT?! Ahhh I'm not making sense it's too late to be making sense you know what, I think I'm going to send this, then sleep kthxbye

_This chapter was kindly written by _failermon_._


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